By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, October 9, 2019: Odisha Assembly has taken the decision to adopt the green governance format called “e-Vidhan” to switch to a paperless assembly, Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro on Wednesday said.

“We have taken the decision to upgrade the Odisha Assembly into e-Vidhan Sabha, and work has already started on this front. Recently, our MLAs visited Himachal Pradesh where e-Vidhan Sabha is already functioning. Along with Wi-Fi, we are going to make all arrangement and changes like infrastructure to move towards the paperless concept.” Patro said.

The Assembly has already placed orders to National Informatics Centre (NIC) in this regard.

A committee has been formed to invite tenders and the Centre has been requested to impart training to the MLA and staff about Odisha Assembly to be paperless, says Vidhan Sabha speaker.

Meanwhile, the state government has sanctioned Rs one lakh to each MLA to purchase a laptop and also requested the Government of India to provide training to MLA is a Mission Mode Project (MMP) included in Digital India Programme and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MoPA) is the nodal ministry for its implementation in all the states and Union Territories with legislatures.

The funding for e-Vidhan is provided by the MoPA and technical support by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).