Paperless Winter Session of Assembly cut paper use by 3.38L pages: Speaker

New Delhi: Digital documentation in the recently concluded paperless Winter Session of Delhi Assembly yielded Rs 1.69 lakh in savings, cut paper use by more than 3.38 lakh pages and helped protect 40.56 trees besides reducing carbon emission, Speaker Vijender Gupta said on Monday.

An internal assessment of reduced paper use during the legislative session indicates measurable environmental and financial savings achieved by avoiding the printing of question papers, Bills, and other official documents, officials said.

According to the assessment, the Question Branch alone accounted for 2,24,000 pages: 320 questions printed at an average of 10 pages per question, with 70 copies each.

The Bills Branch accounted for 64,000 pages: Four Bills, each comprising 100 pages, with 160 copies per Bill.

In addition, miscellaneous branch work, including internal notes, drafts, circulation papers, corrections, agenda papers and notices, was estimated at 50,000 pages per session.

“In total, 3,38,000 pages were avoided in a single session, which was equivalent to saving nearly 40.5 trees that would be required for 1,690.44 metric tonnes of paper as well as reducing 4 to 4.5 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions,” Gupta said.

At 50 paise per page, it also led to the saving of Rs 1.69 lakh in printing cost.

The Winter Session of the eighth Delhi Assembly was held from January 5 to 9, comprising five sittings and 12 hours and 39 minutes of proceedings, the speaker said.

The Delhi Assembly went paperless by implementing the National e-Vidhan Application from the Monsoon Session last year.

During the Winter Session, 351 question notices were received, including 60 starred and 263 unstarred, along with 124 special mentions. Of these, 33 special mentions have been forwarded to the relevant departments, with directions to respond within 30 days, Gupta said.

Referring to the alleged insult to Guru Tegh Bahadur, Speaker Ram Niwas Gupta said he acted with restraint and followed constitutional norms. He said the matter was referred to the Privileges Committee and a forensic examination of the clip ordered. Gupta expressed concern over attempts to influence the inquiry, calling them a violation of legislative dignity.