- Rs 2.5 lakh per minute is the estimated cost of disruptions during Parliament's Budget Session
- Lok Sabha lost 20-25 hours, resulting in a Rs 30-35 crore notional loss so far
- Combined losses for both Houses total approximately Rs 57 crore due to disruptions
Rs 2.5 lakh a minute, Rs 1.5 crore per hour, Rs 9 crore per day and up to Rs 57 crore of taxpayers' money is approximately how much the disruptions during the Parliament's Budget Session have cost so far.
As per NDTV's calculations, it costs around Rs 1.5 crore per hour for both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha to function. Since the Budget Session began on January 28, the Lok Sabha has been given around 30-35 scheduled working hours, of which 20-25 hours have been lost to disruptions. This translates to a notional loss of Rs 30-35 crore in the Lower House.
In the Upper House, 12-15 hours have been lost, translating to a loss of Rs 18-22 crore. Put together, the approximate loss incurred by disruptions in both the Houses combined amounts to a total of Rs 57 crore.
The losses continue to add up even when the Houses are adjourned, with expenses including the running cost of the high-tech Parliament building, staff salaries and expenditure on the security detail, among others.
These figures are a conservative estimate, given that they are from over a decade ago, but, in the absence of updated ones.
While the Opposition had been raising an uproar in the House since the beginning of the Session last week, the protests escalated on Monday, when Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla ruled against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi reading from the magazine featuring an extract from a book by General Naravane (retd), citing Parliamentary rules.
Protests in both Houses, but mainly in the Lok Sabha, led to repeated adjournments of the Lower House, often within minutes of reconvening each time. Members chanted slogans, trooped into the Well of the House and displayed banners and placards before the Speaker.
On Tuesday, eight Opposition members, including seven from the Congress and one from the CPI-M, were suspended for the remainder of the Budget session for unruly behaviour. The Opposition also protested against the India-US trade deal.
