State likely to hold Assembly session at Kalaivanar Arangam

“Due to COVID-19, sprawling alternate sites are considered for hosting the Assembly proceedings and the final decision is yet to be taken,” Dhanapal said.

According to Secretariat sources, the state is mulling to hold the next session of the Assembly at the sprawling Kalaivanar Arangam, where maintaining social distance is easy among the legislators. Maintaining social distancing inside the current assembly hall at Secretariat is practically difficult. The issue has already been taken up with the chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and the general perception among the netas is that the Kalaivanar Arangam with sprawling car park area is located close to the MLAs hostel and the state secretariat. The third floor with the sprawling built-up area can serve the purpose, sources said.

“There are no adequate windows inside the hall and three decades back natural ventilation were closed, paving way for air conditioning, now hosting the assembly is practically difficult,” said an informed source. In the past five more than five ministers and more than 20 MLA have tested positive for the covid infection and majority of the legislators are above 55 with comorbid conditions, so the assembly department is keen on safely conducting the session, the official added.

The state Assembly was adjourned on March 24, following the outbreak of Corona in Chennai and the next session should be convened by September 24, 2020. Chepauk Triplicane legislator J Anbhazhagan had also died due to covid and the assembly will pay tributes to the deceased legislator on the first day of the session. The opposition DMK had also planned to rake up several issues related to the corona mitigation works and the assembly with just seven months to go for next assembly polls is all set to be a noisy affair between the ruling AIADMK and its arch-rival DMK.