Lawmakers told to report about difficulties people are facing

New Delhi: Concerned over a huge rise in Covid-19 cases, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday suggested a feedback mechanism to deal with the lapses in the Covid-19 crisis management, by setting up control rooms at state legislatures and Parliament levels where the members of the legislative assemblies and members of Parliament can report the difficulties that the people are facing to the government.

Birla, who is also Chairman of the All India Presiding Officers Conference, had a meeting of the presiding officers of the legislative bodies and other leaders on the situation and the role that the people's representatives can play.

"The representatives are the bridge between the government and the people. They primarily have to spread awareness that "self-caution" is the biggest tool in this battle against the virus," Birla said at the meeting. The presiding officers should set up control rooms to listen in and help the MLAs coordinating the relief measures.

"We too will be setting up a control room in the Lok Sabha. If there is any issue related to the Central government, it may be forwarded to the Lok Sabha Control Room. With this, a joint platform will be evolved which will prove effective in curbing this menace. This will help in channelising the relevant information and difficulties of the public to the government," he said.

At the virtual meeting, the issues such as shortage of oxygen, medicines, vaccines, and GST dues of states were also raised by states' legislative bodies and opposition leaders.