Winter session of Parliament began on Thursday on a sombre note as both Houses condoled the death of sitting members -- Mohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha and Murarilal Singh in the Lok Sabha -- before adjourning for the day.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar led the House in expressing condolences over the death of Murarilal Singh, BJP MP from Sarguja, who died on Wednesday in Raipur at the age of 61.
“Singh relentlessly worked for the welfare of tribals,” Ms. Kumar said.
The Lok Sabha also condoled the death of seven former members -- Gurbinder Kaur Brar, R P Sarangi, Mohan Singh -- who was the sitting Samajwadi Party member of Rajya Sabha -- Ram Naresh Kushwaha, Mohan Dharia, Nitish Sengupta and H P Singh.
The Speaker also made obituary references to those killed in an attack on a mall in Nairobi, Kenya in September.
Four Indians were among 67 killed in the attack.
The House also condoled the death of 27 people in a building collapse in Mazgaon area of Mumbai in September and those who lost their lives in Phailin and Helen cyclones in India and in super typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
It also expressed grief over the death of 111 people in a stampede in Ratangarh temple in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh, those who died in heavy rains in Andhra Pradesh and in floods in Odisha, and the death of seven police personnel in a blast in Aurangabad on December 3.
