The Rajya Sabha was today adjourned twice for nearly half an hour because of a foul smell emanating from a sewer inside the premises. At 11.28 am, when Minister of State V Narayanasamy was responding to a question, Congress member Rama Chandra Khuntia complained that there was a gas leakage.
Other members too made a similar complaint. Several members were keeping their nostrils closed with their fingers.
Chairman Hamid Ansari then adjourned the House for 15 minutes.
When the House reassembled, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien announced another adjournment till noon. The sewer foul smell emanated and passed through the air-condition ducts into the House.
The gas leakage complaint comes three days after Parliament complex faced three brief power cuts on May 7.
At 12 noon, the House proceedings resumed normally, as engineers plugged the foul smell off.
——Agencies