JANAKPURDHAM, JUNE 4

Provincial Assembly meeting of Province 2 was halted today.

According to Provincial Assembly Speaker Saroj Kumar Yadav, the decision to halt today’s meeting was taken after five of the marshals serving at the PA building and the personal secretary of Financial Affairs and Planning State Minister Usha Yadav tested positive for the coronavirus. “The meeting had been called at 03:00pm, but as five marshals and a minister’s personal secretary were diagnosed with the virus, the meeting was halted,” he said.

Dhanusha Chief District Officer Koshhari Niraula said the marshals and personal secretary were kept in isolation. “They were sent to isolation soon after we learnt about their reports,” said Niraula.

The PA’s fourth session had started yesterday. Today’s meeting was scheduled to discuss a few bills and pre-budget matters.

Secretary Ranjit Kumar Yadav of the Provincial Assembly said 344 PA members, staff and marshals of the PA had undergone PCR tests. “Of them, five marshals and the state minister’s personal secretary tested positive for the virus,” he said.

Further, according to Yadav, work on sanitising the Provincial Assembly building has started.

The meeting is due to convene at 01:00pm tomorrow. “The government’s policies and programmes will be presented tomorrow, and we have made every preparation for the same,” said Yadav.

While seating has been arranged keeping in view the need to maintain physical distance among PA members, the entry of people other than PA members, the speaker and the staff has been prohibited.

Anyone without any PCR report is also prohibited from entering the premises of the PA building.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 5, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.