Lucknow, May 21 (PTI) Ahead of the commencement of the first session of the 18th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh, Speaker Satish Mahana on Saturday asserted that the House will fulfil the aspirations of people from the first session itself.
He also said Uttar Pradesh is the first among the bigger states where e-Vidhan has been implemented, and that this time, every member of the Assembly has been assigned a seat and a tablet computer has been provided at the table of every member.
The Budget Session of the Assembly will commence on Monday (May 23).
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the concept of e-Vidhan, under which all the legislative assemblies in the country will come on one platform, become paperless, will be linked to one another and in the future, their rules will become one,” Mahana told PTI in an interview.
He said after becoming the speaker, he had said that the system will be implemented from the first session itself. “Some said it would be a tough task, but I did not feel so as today, technology is moving fast. And today, I can say that barring Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh is the first among the bigger states where e-Vidhan has been implemented. This was a challenge for me,” the speaker said.
He added that a training programme has been organised for the MLAs since e-Vidhan has been implemented for the first time.
“Our effort will be to ensure that all the members learn it. Initially, we will keep it hybrid, which means both offline and online (mode of work), as it will take time for everyone to learn the system.
“One issue cropped up that many MLAs were unaware of it. I said when an old village woman can avail the benefits of various government schemes in this age of information technology, why will the MLAs face problems in understanding the system? It may take time for some and for them, the hybrid system is kept. Our endeavour will be to go completely paperless after one or two sessions. This is the beginning of going paperless,” Mahana said.
On the seating arrangement in the House, the speaker said, “Seats have been assigned to all the members. Till now, there were 379 seats (in the 403-member House) and the rest of the (24) MLAs used to sit by squeezing themselves. Apart from the 403 MLAs, there were around 15 ministers, who were members of the Legislative Council. If these two figures are combined, then the total figure is around 420. At present, the number is 416.” “Since every member was provided with a tablet computer and seats were assigned to all of them, 37 new seats were added,” Mahana, an eight-time MLA from Kanpur, said.
He asserted that the Assembly will fulfil the aspirations of people from the first session itself.
Elaborating on the proceedings of the Assembly, which will be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, the 61-year-old legislator said, “We will stream the proceedings live on Facebook and YouTube. Voters who elect their MLAs should be aware of his or her activities pertaining to the Assembly. The members will evince interest in this and a transformed image of Uttar Pradesh will be presented before the country. The technical advancements will also fulfil the aspirations of the public faster.” Mahana said once the MLAs are aware that people are watching them, a change will come naturally.
He informed that in the next phase, after the 100-per cent digitalisation of the Assembly, it will be linked to the government departments since the issues that come up in the House are related to these departments.
“Apart from this, after consulting the chief minister, I plan to directly seek grievances from the public and efforts will be made to redress those,” he said.
Asked if he feels that his job will be challenging since the number of Opposition MLAs has increased, Mahana said, “I know that I have to do my job and it does not make any difference to me if the strength of the Opposition has increased. When I occupy the speaker’s chair, everyone will be equal to me.” “My job is to ensure the smooth running of the House. After the election of the speaker, I had said (to the MLAs) that the work that you can do outside, why do you want to do it here? And the work that you can do here, you cannot do outside. You should do the work for which people have sent you here.” To a question on how does he plan to deal with disruptions, the speaker said, “I can only request the MLAs (not to disrupt). I cannot change someone’s style of working. But I can definitely make efforts to ensure that the Assembly functions smoothly. Disruptions can happen in a democracy, but only within the permissible limit. If somebody exceeds that limit, I will have to exercise my powers. But I feel that everybody will be interested in the smooth functioning of the Assembly.” Mahana also pointed out that he has the advantage of his legislative experience, adding, “But when I occupy the speaker’s chair, all relationships will take a back seat.” Currently, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 255 MLAs, while its allies Apna Dal (Sonelal) has 12 MLAs and the NISHAD party has six.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) has 111 MLAs, while its allies Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) have eight and six MLAs respectively. The Congress and the Jansatta Dal Loktantrik have two MLAs each. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has one MLA. PTI NAV RC
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