Foolproof security to be ensured for Dharamsala winter session: Speaker

Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania today said that no laxity in security would be allowed during the winter session of the Assembly session at Tapovan in Dharamsala and surveillance would be done through CCTV and drone cameras. Necessary guidelines had been issued to ensure the security of the Vidhan Sabha building during the session, he added.

Officers and employees of the state government and the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat would have to prominently display the government passes issued to them so that there was minimum need for frisking by security personnel.

Pathania, while presiding over a meeting for the arrangements and preparations for the winter session at Tapovan, said that the seventh session of the 14th Vidhan Sabha would be held from December 18 to 21. He added that there would be four meetings during the session.

Asked for his comments on the small duration of the session, the Speaker told The Tribune, “We are there to conduct the House as proposed by the government. The elections taking place at various places in the country can be a probable reason for this.” With the release of a notification for the session, information related to questions of honourable members has started coming to the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat and will be shared with the media on December 17.

The Speaker said that the district administration had already held meetings under the chairmanship of the District Magistrate of Kangra for the preparations of the winter session. At a meeting organised today under his chairmanship, officers of every department of the district administration were present.

The repair and cleaning of the Tapovan bhawan would be completed well in time. The district administration would make adequate arrangements for the stay of the honourable members of the ruling and opposition parties coming to participate in the session. He said that to deal with any emergency, an ambulance and a doctor and paramedical staff from the Health Department would be on duty at the Tapovan bhawan. There would be a complete ban on carrying mobile phones, laptops and other electronic items inside the Vidhan Sabha.