Maharashtra MLAs won’t get hybrid laptops this monsoon session

To promote paperless functioning, the Maharashtra legislature fixed hybrid laptops at the desks of legislators of the legislative council in March and planned to include Assembly legislators in July.

The Maharashtra legislature’s plan to go paperless from the monsoon session starting on Monday seems to have been stuck.

Senior legislature officials feel it is a one-time environment-friendly investment, which will save the money spent on paper and printing.(HT)

With the legislature administration having doubts about whether legislators will be comfortable adopting paperless work culture through hi-tech devices, the plan has been put on hold, at least for this session. Senior officials are hopeful about implementing the plan from the winter session, which is expected to start in December.

To promote paperless functioning, the state legislature fixed hybrid laptops at the desks of legislators of the legislative council in March and planned to include Assembly legislators in July.

Maharashtra is one of the seven states which has bicameral legislature. The legislative council has 78 members, while the strength of the state assembly is 288.

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“We have decided to wait and watch. The plan to go completely paperless will be implemented if we get the desired success with the legislators of the council. The strength of the state Assembly is three times more than the council, which also means three times more investment,” said a senior official.

Anand Kalse, principal secretary, said, “The scheme of providing hybrid laptops [to Assembly legislators] has not been approved. We hope to get it implemented soon.”

Equipped with the most advanced specifications, the hybrid laptop for council legislators cost Rs1.5 lakh each, making the total expenditure to around Rs1.25 crore. Extending the scheme to Assembly legislators would mean an additional expense of nearly Rs3.7 crore.

Senior legislature officials feel it is a one-time environment-friendly investment, which will save the money spent on paper and printing..