HP's e-vidhan system to serve as model for other assemblies

The information technology department has adopted the Himachal Pradesh assembly’s ‘e-vidhan’ project as a model for other state assemblies. “Our efforts to make the state assembly paperless has been recognized outside the state,” assembly speaker Brij Bihari Butail said while presiding over a meeting of the press gallery committee.

The information technology department has adopted the Himachal Pradesh assembly’s ‘e-vidhan’ project as a model for other state assemblies. “Our efforts to make the state assembly paperless has been recognized outside the state,” assembly speaker Brij Bihari Butail said while presiding over a meeting of the press gallery committee.

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Giving details about the project, introduced in the Himachal assembly for the first time during last year’s monsoon session, he said: “So far paperless work has enabled the assembly to save Rs 14 crore from reducing the bulky paperwork. We’re making serious efforts to the reduce bulky paperwork during the next budget session. Barring the governor’s address and the CM’s budget speech, a majority of the proceeding have been made paperless.”

The `8.2 crore project was inaugurated by chief minister Virbhadra Singh on August 4. The state secretariat conducted special sessions to train MLAs and ministers in the new system. As part of the project touch screens were installed on legislators’ desks and at the press gallery.

However, the new system, designed by a Kochi based IT form, could not be put to use during the monsoon session as several MLAs struggled to familiarise themselves with it. Under the project the secretariat interface has a questions processing system to take questions from members, issue notices to departments and receive replies from them, fix dates of sittings and create a list of everyday proceedings.