Laptops in, paper out of AP assembly

The Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly will now go hi-tech with legislators now being allowed to use their laptops in the House.

Speaker K R Suresh Reddy on Tuesday announced that legislators may use the laptops provided to them by the government, in the House forthwith. They may interact with persons outside the assembly through remote internet connectivity.

"Generally legislators get written slips from outside the House for suggestions and other information. The laptop facility will enable the members to chat with their supporters and get more details about the topics during the discussions in the House," Reddy said, adding: "The legislators can feed necessary information into their laptops and retrieve it whenever they want."

The Speaker's decision also comes as a relief to legislators who had been unable to even use their cell phones within the assembly owing to signal jammers.