GUWAHATI, July 17 - The Summer Session of the Assam Legislative Assembly, which was scheduled to start from July 18, has been deferred till July 26 due to the current floods in the State.
Assembly Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami said since many legislators as well as the local administrations in most of the districts are engaged in flood relief work, the Governor has agreed to postpone the date for the summoning of the House.
�The flood situation in the State has assumed a serious dimension and communication has been affected in many places. The MLAs are busy with relief work. The common people are going through a lot of suffering,� Goswami said. He added that he had a discussion with the Chief Minister in this regard after many MLAs sought postponement of the session so that they could focus on flood relief work in their respective constituencies.
As only the Governor has the constitutional authority to summon the Assembly and to defer or postpone it, the Chief Minister took up the matter with the Governor. �The Governor agreed (to the deferment). The MLAs can continue to focus on the relief work. Now the session will be held from July 26, instead of July 18,� he added.
The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Legislative Assembly will meet soon to discuss the tenure of the session and other details. As per the original schedule, the summer session was to have six working days and would have concluded on July 25.
�There will be a minimum of six working days (even after the postponement). The other details will be worked out by the BAC during its meeting,� Goswami said.
