goel: Finance dept obstructing assembly digitisation project at Delhi LG’s behest: Speaker Ram Niwas Goel

Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Monday alleged the city government’s finance department was obstructing the paperless Vidhan Sabha project at the behest of Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena. His allegations came days after the secretary of the Union Parliamentary Affairs Ministry sought Saxena’s intervention in expediting the assembly digitisation project pending for four years.

There was no immediate reaction to this from the LG’s office.

Addressing a press conference at the assembly, Goel said the Delhi Legislative Assembly allocated Rs 20 crore for the digitisation project in 2019-20 but it could not take off due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

After the situation returned to normal, the Delhi Assembly sent a proposal to the finance department on February 17, March 15, April 10 and June 7 for the appointment of a project management consultant to finalise details of a tender for the project, he said, adding, “The file was returned over flimsy excuses.”

“I would like to point out that one of the objections the principal secretary of finance had was that since the law secretary is the administrative secretary of the Vidhan Sabha, this proposal should come through him. The file was returned on July 5,” Goel alleged.

Despite sending the file to the finance department four times, it was not cleared, the minister said. “If they clear the file, we will implement the paperless project within three months,” he asserted. Goel also urged the LG to direct the principal secretary of finance to clear the file for the appointment of the project consultant. “The questions, reports and all the documents presented in the assembly are digitalised and available on the website. We have stopped giving hard copies of reports to members,” he mentioned.

The minister further said, “Delhi assembly was the first assembly where a paperless budget was presented three years ago by the then finance minister. In order to complete the automation project, we need to develop special software. If LG sir had stopped interfering, the assembly would have become digital by now.”

In the communication to the LG, the parliamentary affairs secretary urged him to ensure the implementation of the project using the funds already available under the National eVidhan Application (NeVA) scheme, according to the Raj Niwas.

Highlighting the assembly’s opposition to the NeVA scheme, Goel said the application is similar for all assemblies and does not take into consideration the fact that all of them are independent bodies and have their own objectives and needs.

“The application is controlled by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs over which the Delhi Assembly raised objections. Due to our reservations, we decided to implement this project ourselves,” he said.

The note from Raj Niwas also claimed that all the 37 legislative assemblies and councils in the country, except the Delhi Legislative Assembly, have already implemented or initiated the process of digitisation.

“Fourteen legislative assemblies and councils, including the Karnataka assembly and legislative council, Madhya Pradesh assembly, Maharashtra and Rajasthan assemblies, have not implemented NeVA,” Goel said.