The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : House reports found on footpath marts

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Thursday, Mar 20, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

House reports found on footpath marts

M. Malleswara Rao

Age-old reports get tabled in Assembly; Speaker anguished
Speaker to reverse trend; PSUs to table current reports

HYDERABAD: The government presented annual reports of 19 public sector undertakings (PSUs)/corporations and copies of half-a-dozen orders issued by different departments in the Assembly during the ongoing budget session. All of them, without exception, were found by MLAs to be dating back to previous years and not a single report was related to the financial 2007-08.

For example, the annual report of the Power Finance Corporation was presented for 2000-01 and that of AP Civil Supplies Corporation for 2002-03. Even the report of APSRTC which has so much relevance to daily life, was tabled for 2004-05. Similarly, copies of old GOs were circulated among the MLAs.

Specific directions

Speaker K. R. Suresh Reddy wants to reverse this tradition. Speaking to The Hindu, he said as the first step in this direction, he had asked the Subordinate Legislative Committee of the Assembly to take up the matter with the government departments so that the PSUs, hereafter, could submit reports only for the current year.

“This will form proper platform for live debates.” He said he would coordinate with Legislative Council Chairman A. Chakrapani to take similar steps from his side.

Mr. Reddy said he was anguished that reports and papers tabled in the House were finding their way into the waste-paper marts on footpaths with members disposing them of by weight.

Tuljanand Singh, Secretary, Legislature, on the instructions of the Speaker, asked the Assembly staff to remove all old and irrelevant information from its records such as “assurances” given by the government in the House ages ago in response to questions raised by a members.

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