SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly is all set to join the ‘go green’ bandwagon with the launch of a hi-tech SMS service for the State legislators, effectively reducing the customary practice of ‘paper works’ in the Assembly.
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, AT Mondal, on Sunday said the newly- launched SMS service would be a boon to the legislators as they can now avail advance information on any happenings in the Assembly on their cell phones. The MLAs would also be informed of various notifications and circulars through the SMS system, Mondal said.
The legislators would also be provided information about dates and timings of the Assembly sessions as well as the meetings of the different committees.
In addition, the MLAs would also be provided with questions in advance on their e-mail IDs and this would enable the legislators to prepare detailed discussion on various questions to be raised during the Question Hour.
The new system would largely reduce the paper work in the Assembly, he said, while mentioning that this system would be the Assembly’s initiative towards environment protection. According to Mondal, the Assembly Secretariat has developed a dedicated server to make the SMS service efficient and viable.
The State Legislative Assembly came up with the idea after the MLAs paid a visit to the Union Parliament shortly after the new House assumed charge in Meghalaya after the 2013 Assembly polls.
Mondal, meanwhile, informed that the SMS system was first used in the last Budget session and all the legislators were happy with the initiative, prompting the Legislative Assembly to utilize the SMS service once again when the House re-assembles.
