New Delhi, Mar 6 (IANS): With the budget session of the Delhi assembly set to begin on March 8, preparations in the Old Secretariat building which is now known as the Delhi Assembly were in full swing on Saturday.

Renovation work is being carried out in the Assembly premises. Water fountains that were defunct are being repaired, the beautification of the garden and whitewashing of the buildings is being carried out.

The offices earmarked for the Delhi Cabinet Ministers and other dignitaries including the office of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly building have started functioning. As the Assembly session will begin at 11 a.m. with the speech of the Delhi Lieutenant Governor, the officials deployed under the cabinet ministers will work from the Assembly premises till March 16.

A senior official said, "This year, the Assembly sessions will begin in the morning instead of at 2 p.m. as was the case so far. Officials will not have much time to produce information required during the session, hence, the offices of cabinet ministers and others will function from here."

The Delhi Assembly will also have a temporary set up for Covid-19 testing for officials, MLAs, staff members, workers, media persons and others. A senior official in the Assembly told IANS that around 300 Covid-19 tests were done in the last 24 hours. "RTPCR testing for Covid-19 is part of our precautionary measures against Covid-19 during the session. We have appealed to all who will come to attend the assembly session between March 8 to March 16 to go for testing. The Covid-19 test report is mandatory to gain entry into the Assembly hall."

The entire session this time will run without Question Hour. The Kejriwal-led AAP government had picked 'swaraj' or self-rule as the scheme of its first budget in 2015-16 and a large amount of money was allocated for water and power subsidy schemes. In 2018-19 the AAP government had presented its annual budget calling it a 'green budget' and had allocated a separate amount for anti-pollution measures.

For 2020-21, the Delhi government had presented an estimated budget of Rs 65,000 crore that was around 10 per cent more than that of 2019-20.