Maharashtra's winter session to be held in Mumbai for the first time

Fearing the second wave of COVID-19 infection, the Maharashtra legislature has decided to hold its winter session in Mumbai instead of Nagpur, for the first time in the last 60 years. The session will begin on December 7.

The decision to hold the session in Mumbai was taken in a meeting held at Vidhan Bhavan of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the state legislature on Tuesday. However, the tenure of the winter session will be decided at the meeting slated for November end after reviewing the COVID-19 situation.

Meanwhile, it has been decided to hold the budget session of the legislature in Nagpur, depending on the COVID-19 situation in February 2021. Traditionally, the winter session of the state legislature is held at Nagpur, the second capital of Maharashtra. The practice of holding winter session in Nagpur has been followed since the state was formed in 1960. Nagpur was earlier the capital of the Central Provinces and Berar.

This announcement came two days after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in his web address to the citizens had said Maharashtra could not afford a second wave, which was witnessed in western countries, as it will have an adverse impact on health, infrastructure, and economy.

According to sources, a number of members from the Assembly and the Council advised not to hold the winter session in Nagpur.

The MLA hostel, which accommodates members when they arrive in Nagpur for the Winter Session, was converted into a COVID-19 centre and continues to function like that. Several lodging and boarding facilities are handling coronavirus patients. Therefore, providing alternative lodging and boarding arrangements and maintaining social distancing could prove to be a difficult exercise. Hence, this decision was taken.

In Maharashtra, three sessions take place in a year. First is the Budget Session which takes place in February-March in Mumbai. It generally lasts for five weeks. The Monsoon Session during June-July lasts three-four weeks in Mumbai. The Winter Session, which lasts two-three weeks, takes place in November-December in Nagpur. This year, due to coronavirus crisis, the monsoon session was held for only two days in September.