Haryana will introduce paperless functioning of the State Legislative Assembly now with a Tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Thursday between the Ministry of Parliamentary Affair, Haryana Government and Haryana Legislative Assembly for implementation of National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA).
Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Gian Chand Gupta presided over a meeting with officials of the Central Government, State Government and Legislative Assembly in the committee room at the Assembly in Chandigarh. Deputy Speaker Ranbir Gangwa and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Satya Prakash Khatana were also present in the meeting. Besides this, members and officials of the House Committee for NeVA and State Project Monitoring Unit Committee were also present.
Secretary, Personnel, Training, Parliamentary Affairs Departments Pankaj Agarwal on the behalf of Haryana Government, Secretary, Vidhan Sabha, RK Nandal on the behalf of Haryana Legislative Assembly and Joint Secretary, Satya Prakash Khatana on the behalf of Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs signed this MoU.
Gupta said that the expenses on this project costing Rs. 20 crores would be provided by the Central and State Government in the ratio of 60:40. Under this agreement, the Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs will organize a three year training programme for the officials of the State Legislative Assembly and IT Cell.
He said that Himachal Pradesh is the only state in the country which has been successful in paperless functioning of State Legislatures, adding that on March 1 and 2, a team of Haryana Vidhan Sabha would visit Shimla to know the functioning and proceedings of their Legislative Assembly.
The Speaker said that the Vidhan Sabha Library will also be digitized soon. A large amount of paper is used in Question Hours, Calling Attention, Ordinances, Bills and other legislative work during the proceedings of Legislative Assembly Sessions. He said that after the implementation of this paperless initiative, an amount of about Rs 15 crores will be saved which was earlier spent on papers in the sessions. It will also help in environmental protection, he added. Among those present on the occasion including Chief Secretary Vijai Vardhan, Secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Rajendra S Shukla, Secretary, Personnel, Training, Parliamentary Affairs Departments, Pankaj Agarwal and Secretary, Vidhan Sabha, RK Nandal.