Punjab assembly may soon go paperless
Monday, 17/12/2012
http://punjabnewsline.com/news/Punjab-assembly-may-soon-go-paperless.html
CHANDIGARH: Punjab assembly, whose winter session begins on Monday, may soon bid goodbye to all the paperwork if the proposal by Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal goes through.
Atwal, during whose tenure as Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Parliament was computerized, is quite keen to do the same in Punjab assembly.
At present, all the legislative work in the House including question hour, adjournment motions, bills and records of speeches of MLAs and Ministers are all done on paper. Even reports of various boards andcorporations and government organizations are available only as hard copy. This results in the Vidhan Sabha spending lakhs of rupees on paperwork. Digitization of records and proceedings can, thus, save ahuge amount of money.
Presently, the Vidhan Sabha secretariat staff is neither computer-savvy nor have they been provided with any computers. Digitization will also require MLAs to be trained in the use of computers.
Atwal feels that in the present times, computers have become a part of everyday life and therefore, digitization of Assembly records and proceedings is the need of the hour.
The Speaker’s proposal for digitization has already been approved by the finance department and Atwal hopes that it may soon be met with approval from the state Cabinet as well.
