Sri Lanka’s Parliament has ventured on a cost –cutting and environmentally friendly project

Sri Lanka’s Parliament has ventured on a cost –cutting and environmentally friendly project by deciding not to seeking printed version of reports, but to call for soft-copies.

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced the details of the Parliament on Tuesday (June 7). He said it was decided at a  recent meeting of the Committee on Parliamentary Business to publish the annual reports, performance reports and other relevant reports as e-versions.

According to the decision it has been decided to publish only soft copies of the previously printed documents including annual reports submitted to the Parliament.

Steps to send the relevant reports to the Members of Parliament by e-mail.

Soft copies are to be uploaded to a specific web portal on the Parliament website.

Considering the need for several hard copies of the reports, steps will be taken to make them available to the Committees for reference kept in the library.

The Speaker said that the decision was taken as a measure to address the contemporary economic crisis in the country and to minimize possible environmental concerns. The Speaker also appreciated the support of all Members of Parliament in this regard.

Accordingly, it has been decided to appoint an officer to deal on the matter, and to send soft copies to the Hon. Members of Parliament of those reports which are to be tabled on the relevant dates through an e-mail.

It was also decided to include soft copies of daily tabled reports in a specialized web portal on the Parliamentary website so that they can be accessed on laptops / desktops, tablets or mobile phones. The Speaker further stated that steps will be taken to make several hard copies of these reports available to the Committees for reference purposes which will be kept in the library.

Accordingly, it was decided at the Committee on Parliamentary Business meeting held recently to inform the Secretaries of all the Ministries on this regard and expedite the implementation of this program, the Speaker further stated.

The focus of the Committee was directed towards the current environmental difficulties in procuring printing materials, as well as the difficulty of finding imported CDs in the market and the high cost it involves, as well as the adverse environmental impact of CD recycling on the environment when making the decision, the Speaker said.

The Speaker further stated that the Committee has taken this decision considering the timeliness of the creation of a sustainable e-public service through the digitization of the public service as all the Hon. Members of Parliament are currently using technological tools.