Hyderabad, July 24: Strict entry restrictions have been put in place for the budget session of the State Assembly beginning tomorrow. Elaborate security arrangements are being put in place in and around the Assembly and entry of persons would be strictly regulated, Assembly Speaker N Kiran Kumar Reddy told reporters here today.
All this is self-regulatory to ensure order in the Assembly premises and for the smooth conduct of the House proceedings, the Speaker said. The session will continue till August 31 and live telecast of the House proceedings would continue, he added.
The Speaker informed that unlike in the past no delegations would be allowed to give representations either to the Government or Ministers during the session.
Submission of representations to the Speaker would be allowed only after the session with prior appointment. Besides, no review meetings by the ministers would be allowed in the Assembly committee halls when the session is in progress.
Meetings by various political parties would be allowed at the premises only after session hours. He urged all the members concerned to cooperate in this regard.
With regard to media coverage, Kiran Kumar Reddy said that necessary arrangements have been made to have live coverage for as many as 80 TV channels. At present, there were about 15 TV channels existing in the city.
For the first time visitors to the legislature would be issued photo identity passes and the number of passes to media personnel have also been grossly cut down, he said.
Hitherto 1,033 passes, valid for two years, were issued to media personnel but now the new media advisory committee has limited the number of passes in three different categories.
Three categories of passes have been issued to media personnel which included 180 passes for entry into lobbies, 159 for press gallery and 152 for coverage at media point. There would be no entry for photographers and videographers into the lobbies during the session. Required output would be provided by the Assembly, the Speaker said. A new media point has also been created where MLAs could interact with the media personnel.
The Speaker informed of a special programme to the newly-elected members to explain them about functioning of the Assembly and its procedures.
A half-a-day session would be held at Rajaji institute here on July 29 where experts Subhash Kashyap, Rama Devi and Sadasiva Reddy would address the new members, he added.
–Agencies–