Ranchi, Jul 22 (IANS): The Jharkhand Assembly on Monday paid tribute to late former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Lok Janshakti Party MP Ramchandra Paswan and others as its monsoon session began on Monday.

As the house assembled, Speaker Dinesh Oraon paid tributes to Dikshit, Paswan, veteran Left leader and former Dhanbad MP A. K. Roy, Uttarakhand Minister Prakash Pant, BJP's former Delhi unit chief Mange Ram Garg, former MLA Ramnika Gupta, Swami Satyamitranand Giri, Bollywood actor and author Girish Karnad, Ranchi neuro-physician K.K. Sinha, Jharkhand's first Auditor General S.K.F. Kujur, former hockey player Stanliyas Bada and industrialist Basant Kumar Birla.

After the Speaker, Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Leader of Opposition Hemant Soren and other members also paid tributes to people who died between the Assembly's budget and monsoon session.

Addressing the house, the Speaker stressed the need for water conservation.

Expressing his concern over the lack of rainfall in the state, Oraon said: "The legislators should think seriously on ways for water conservation. This is the monsoon session, therefore a discussion on this topic has become more relevant."

The first supplementary budget of Rs 3,908.63 crore for fiscal 2019-20 was also presented.