Finance and Human Resources Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Tuesday said the paperless Budget presented this year had substantially reduced the need to print documents for the MLAs.
He said that in the past, 1,600 copies of 70 books would be printed and each member would get about 8,500 pages. “Many members would not take the books with them, and they were disposed of in bundles as old books. The printed material was wasted, and there was also a problem in disposal,” he said. Mr. Rajan said he took up the issue with the Chief Minister and the Leader of the House because many members would not read the books or refer to the statistics therein.
“I wanted to print just 200 copies for the Governor’s office, the Comptroller and Auditor-General, libraries and treasuries. But the Leader of the House said there was a need to give printed copies to the MLAs, so we increased the number to 400,” he said, responding to a question from V.V. Rajan Chellappa of the AIADMK.
Mr. Rajan said the MLAs could collect their copies from the same place at Fort St George where they got them earlier. “All the documents have already been uploaded in the computers of all members,” he said.