We cancelled Question Hour and started our businesses directly with bills: Assembly Speaker
The Autumn session of Assam Assembly was adjourned sine die on Thursday after passing a record 16 bills on the last day. Seven bills were passed on Wednesday.
During the four-day session, a total of 23 bills were passed and supplementary grants were approved.
"Dedicating an entire day only for discussing bills has never happened in the history of Assam Assembly. Today, we cancelled Question Hour and started our businesses directly with bills. This is a record," Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami told PTI.
The primary responsibility of lawmakers is to make laws and the legislators performed that duty very well on the last day, he added. Assembly Principal Secretary Mrigendra Kumar Deka said he has never heard that 16 bills were passed in a single day.
Asom Gana Parishad MLA Pabindra Deka too said that it is "probably the highest" for a single day.
On the last day of the session, bills were passed, among others, to create separate autonomous councils for Moran, Matak and Koch-Rajbongshi communities and to dilute provisions of several labour related laws to facilitate "ease of doing business".
On Wednesday, the House passed a bill enabling the state government to borrow an additional 2.5 per cent of the state GDP for 2020-21 because of the "highly stressed" current fiscal situation.
It had also passed a bill to protect, preserve and restore tangible heritage, which is currently not covered under any national or state law, to fulfil the objective of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.
On the first day on August 31, a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the state finances for the year ending March 31, 2019 was tabled.
The four-day Autumn Session of Assam Assembly had commenced in a sombre mood with just 50 per cent of MLAs present inside the House to maintain social distancing norms for preventing the spread of COVID-19.