House to go paperless with e-readers soon

The announcement from the Speaker came after Orathanadu MLA M Ram Chandran (DMK) complained of the volume of reports dished out to the legislators as tabled in the Assembly along with speeches and replies.

The MLA also expressed his aversion towards use of more paper which can wreak havoc on trees and nature. He went on to note that the disruption of natural resources for paper has taken a toll on the amount of rainfall.

Speaker said, “We are taking measures to make the Assembly paperless soon. We will issue e-readers to all the legislators which will remove your worry of carrying huge books back.” Industries Minister MC Sampath sought to allay the fears of the DMK MLA observing that the natural resources were not being utilised for paper production anywhere. He noted that the trees used are from captive plantation and are being imported as and when required.

“Therefore, natural resources are never used in paper manufacturing,” the Minister said.

Minister for Tamil Official Language and Culture K Pandiarajan announced that the government would provide for celebration of Christian and Muslim festivals from this year onward.

MLA Vagai Chandrasekhar, observed that the state government was only celebrating Hindu festivals. Pandiarajan said the state was celebrating 31 festivals of which only four, including Pongal, Natyanjali and Chithirai belong to the Hindu religion and the state would begin taking up the festivals of minorities too.