Making J&K Legislature paperless by budget session
Ist installment released by Parl Affairs Ministry
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 23: As Speaker Legislative Assembly Abdul Rahim Rather chaired the High Level Apex Committee (HLAC) meeting in Srinagar today on making the Legislature, both in Jammu and Srinagar paperless with implementation of National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA), authorities expressed confidence of meeting project deadline of next budget session of the Assembly.
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Sources told the Excelsior that out of Rs 16 crore project, the Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has released Rs 3.5 crore and promised to release rest of the amount in three more installments as and when the funds are required and the projects gains momentum.
“Timely release of funds and efforts by the concerned departments can help meet deadline for completion of project before next budget session of the Legislature scheduled to be held in Jammu in March next year,” they said.
Sources said almost all States/UTs in the country have one Assembly complex but Jammu and Kashmir is the exception which has two Legislature complexes-one each in Jammu and Srinagar as both are capital cities of the Union Territory. The Legislature session during winters is held in Jammu which is generally the budget session while the session during summers is held in Srinagar. Only two sessions of the Legislature are held in Jammu and Kashmir as against three in rest of the States and UTs with Legislature.
The project for making the J&K Legislature paperless has to be implemented at two places in Jammu and Srinagar and the authorities after today’s review meeting by the Speaker expressed confidence that it will be implemented before next budget session of the Assembly which is generally held in March.
Today’s High Level Apex Committee meeting was attended by MLAs Justice (Retd.) Hasnain Masoodi, Nizamuddin Bhat, Tanvir Sadiq, Arjun Singh Raju, Dr Sunil Bhardwaj and Dr Bharat Bhushan, Secretary Information Technology department, Dr. Piyush Singla and Secretary Assembly, Manoj Kumar Pandita besides members of HLAC.
The meeting was also attended by Secretary Law department, Achal Sethi; DG Budget, SIO NIC J&K; representatives of NICSI and other concerned officers.
An official handout said: The Speaker, who is also the Chairman of HLAC, took detailed assessment on this flagship project aimed at making the Legislature digital and paperless.
Addressing the officers, the Speaker emphasized the importance of timely completion and integration of NeVA project to modernize the legislative processes and ensure a paperless functioning of J&K Assembly. He highlighted that NeVA as a milestone initiative aimed at increasing the transparency, efficiency and accessibility in legislative proceedings for both the legislators and the public.
He stressed upon the officers to maintain regular coordination for effective implementation of the project in the Legislative Assembly.
The Speaker directed all the concerned departments to expedite the remaining tasks and adhere to timelines for timely rollout of this prestigious initiative.
“Successful implementation of NeVA will bring J&K at par with digitally empowered Legislatures of the country”, the Speaker stated.
He also directed the NIC and IT department to keep the HLAC updated about the progress achieved on implementation of this project.
During the meeting, SIO NIC J&K gave a detailed presentation on current status of the project.
Pertinently, NeVA is a flagship project under Digital India Initiative led by Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, aimed at making the Legislature paperless.
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