Maharashtra govt to go paperless ahead of Winter Session

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has to give a go-ahead for procurement of tablets for paperless functioning of the state Legislature. [caption id=“attachment_3075750” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] With this move, the upcoming session of the Legislature to be held in Nagpur from 5 December, will go paperless. The committee set up for procurement of tablets has given a go-ahead for it along with financial sanction, MLC Manikrao Thakre, one of the committee members, told PTI on Thursday. States like Goa and Haryana are already using tablets during sessions of their respective Legislative Assembly, he added. “The tablets are going to be used in the upcoming Winter Session. The Maharashtra government spends around Rs 50 crore annually for publication of various committee reports, official surveys, reference reports and daily reports for the members of Assembly and Council. Compared to it, at present the tablet cost is not over Rs five crore. Once the tablets are procured, the cost of (publishing) documents will be saved forever,” Thakre said. There are 288 members in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly while there are 78 members in the state Legislative Council. “The high speed Internet service will reduce the waste of time in searching the information and presenting it before the House”, Thakre, a senior Congress leader said, adding the government needs to ensure higher Internet speed through Wi-Fi service. “All the modalities including whether to fix the tables inside the both houses will be finalised at the Committee meeting after Diwali,” Thakre added. A committee of administrative officers had already studied the functioning of Haryana and Goa Assemblies and hence the state government gave its nod to the proposal, said the MLC. The Budget and the Monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislature are held in Mumbai while the Winter session is held in Nagpur.