Agartala, Jun 12, 2023, TRIPURATIMES Desk

Agartala June 12: Tripura Legislative Assembly is all set to embrace the digital platform as a part of the Digital India Mission, said chief minister Dr Manik Saha as he inaugurated the training program for the members of the assembly here on Monday.

It is never too late to be tech-savvy in this ongoing age of green governance. The setting up of e-Vidhan Sabha is a benchmark in Tripura’s history, said the chief minister.

The Union government has set up a National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) aimed at making the proceedings of legislatures of all the states and Union Territories paperless or digital, he said.

At the initial stage, Monday, the elected members including the chief minister, Speaker, ministers and MLAs were given training on paperless features for the proceedings of the assembly session.

Addressing the occasion, chief minister Dr Manik Saha said, “NeVA is one of the many mission mode projects under the Digital India program of the central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking to make the functioning of all state legislatures paperless by transforming them into digital house”.

“Considering the present modern times, digitalization is the utmost need of the hour. Digital Vidhan Sabha shall help to bring transparency in governance, accountability and responsiveness in the conduct of the House apart from reducing vast expense for paper”, he added.

The chief minister further said that several thousand tons of paper will be saved which in turn will also help in saving lakhs of trees.

Besides, all necessary information will be available at the fingertip easily.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath said, “The Prime Minister has always emphasized upon setting up digital system all over the country. The state government is also working towards the same direction. The e-Vidhan Sabha, will not only save time, but it will also be helpful in terms of collecting information, save money, voting process will be easier with e-voting system. All the members of the Legislative Assembly will be provided training on NeVA Application till June 25 starting from Monday. Hands on training will be provided to the MLAs on using tab, joining e-Vidhan Sabha, prompting question, voting process etc.”.

Addressing the program, Opposition Party Leader Animesh Debbarma said, “Papers and other materials are being used every day for managing the Legislative Assembly and as a result a lot of money is spent. With the commencement of e-Vidhan Sabha, management of the Legislative Assembly will be paperless and money saving”.

He called upon all the members of the Legislative Assembly to take forward role in setting up of e-Vidhan Sabha.

Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Biswabandhu Sen, Deputy Speaker Ram Prasad Pal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath, Opposition Party Leader Animesh Debbarma and members of the State Cabinet as well as MLAs were present in the programme.

As per sources, for the first time, the paperless mode of Vidhan Sabha functioning might commence from the forthcoming budget session slated to be held in July next.