141 Kerala legislators get a laptop
Thiruvananthapuram: All 141 legislators of the state assembly were Tuesday given a brand new HCL laptop each.
Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan handed over one laptop to Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy at the banquet hall of the state assembly.
It is yet to be decided if the legislators would be charged for the computers, speaker of the assembly K. Radhakrishnan told.
'We have not decided on that. At the end of the tenure of this assembly, may be after allowing for depreciation, we might levy a small amount. That is yet to be decided,'said Radhakrishnan.
The tenure of this assembly ends in May 2011.
Chandy said that the legislators should rise to the occasion and make use of this facility to serve the people better.
The laptops have not been loaded with the conventional proprietary software. Instead they have free software, of which Achuthanandan is the biggest brand ambassador.
'This is certainly going to be a problem because not many would be able to operate the free software,' pointed out film star turned former minister and IT savvy legislator K.B. Ganesh Kumar.
