Now, watch Maharashtra legislature proceedings live on YouTube for the first time

Proceedings of both Houses will be streamed on Maharashtra Assembly Live and Maharashtra Council Live

Want to watch the state budget and your elected representatives debate on various issues in real-time online? From Monday, when the budget session of the state legislature begins, you can log on to YouTube and catch all the live action from the legislature on two channels.

This can be done for free as the legislature secretariat records all the proceedings and also gives video feeds to news channels.(HT FILE)

“We are creating two channels – Maharashtra Assembly Live and Maharashtra Council Live – where proceedings of both the Houses will be streamed live. The broadcast will continue till proceedings of each of the House for that day are on,” said a senior official.

The official said this can be done for free as the legislature secretariat records all the proceedings and also gives video feeds to news channels. “The same system will be used for live streaming on YouTube,” he said.

“The decision was taken to reach out to as many people as possible, so that they know what the government is doing for them on various issues,” said Dr Anant Kalse, principal secretary, state legislature, refusing to share further details on the initiative.

However, recordings of the proceedings will not be available like other video feeds. “Many times, some speeches or some names considered objectionable get expunged from the records by the Speaker. The objective of expunging that part from the debate will be defeated if recordings or videos will be made available on YouTube,” said the official.

The legislature secretariat had earlier planned exclusive television channels for both Assembly and Council on the lines of the Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV. However, that proposal has been pending for the past two years owing to lack of funds.