New Delhi [India], March 14 (ANI): Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday expressed concern over the decline in attendance this year in the meetings of parliamentary panels with the House and called for the nomination of members with interest in the committees.

Naidu gave an account of the work done in this regard by the eight Committees of the Rajya Sabha after the second part of Budget Session resumed following a 30-day recess for Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committees (DRSCs) to examine the Demands for Grants of various ministries.

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He informed the House that these eight committees have held 23 meetings for 73 hours and 33 minutes with an average duration of 3 hours 30 minutes per meeting.

"This marked an increase of one hour 17 minutes per meeting over that of last year, constituting a rise of 56 per cent," Naidu said a few minutes after the House assembled for the day at 11 am.

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He said three Committees on Education, Personnel and Public Grievances and Commerce reported an average duration of meetings of over four hours during the recess period.

Expressing concern over the decline in attendance in these Committee meetings this year, he referred to a couple of chairpersons of the committees having met him this morning and reiterated the need for nominating members with interest in specialized and technical matters on committees dealing with those issues.

He further noted that the members should give priority to attending the meetings of the parliamentary panels even during the time of elections.

The Chairman also urged the members to facilitate a productive second part of the budget session that began on Monday guided by the positive spirit of the first part that resulted in productivity of 101.40 per cent.

Referring to the first part of the budget session, the Vice President said it witnessed eight full consecutive sittings without disturbances and forced adjournments, after about three years and stressed on the need to sustain that spirit.

Referring to the situation in Ukraine, the chairman noted that evacuation of students from the country was a challenging task and complimented the central and state governments for putting in praiseworthy efforts in this regard.

Urging the members to follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour both within and outside the House, Naidu informed the members that another safety measure was recently installed in the Rajya Sabha Chambers in the form of Ultra-Violet C-Band radiation which is very effective in killing the virus. (ANI)

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