Panaji: When the Goa assembly convenes Monday, the reams of cyclostyled paper with questions and answers and other text, a common sight in every state legislature, will hardly be seen. High definition (HD) screens will take their place, functioning in the manner of a TV prompter.

In fact, Governor B.V. Wanchoo will read his session-opening address off an HD screen. The first such exercise in a state assembly in India has been made possible by the technological innovations that have been put in place by Speaker Rajendra Arlekar.

"Our effort is to make the assembly functioning completely paperless. This (the HD screens) is the first step," said a senior official of the state legislative assembly who gave IANS a sneak peek of the arrangements.

"The screens will show the question which is being asked at the moment, so instead of looking at the paper in the hand all that the legislator has to do is to look at the screen. The same is the case with the minister who is answering the query too," the official said.

During the five-day session, the HD screens and other refinements that have been put in place at a cost of 2 crore will be used during the question hour, when calling attention notices are put, or when any text needs to be presented.

In the next exercise, to be undertaken by the end of the budget session in mid- to late March, all legislators will be issued with iPods that will give them Wi-Fi connectivity to the HD screens. The iPods will be acquired at a cost of 50 lakh.

The five-day session promises fireworks with the nine Congress legislators having raised nearly 800 queries that the treasury benches will have to answer.

The current upgrade is of such cutting-edge technology that instead of regular speakers, the proceedings can now be relayed over surround sound speakers.

iPads, he says, will save on printing costs. "We use more paper than the permissions given by the forest department to cut trees. One hundred and fifty copies of all questions is a lot of paper," Parrikar stated.