Panaji, August 15 (IANS): The decision to convert the proceedings of the Goa assembly into a paperless one saved nearly 1,300 trees, Speaker Rajendra Arlekar said in his concluding remarks of the monsoon session on Friday.

"We managed to save nearly 1,300 trees from felling by going paperless," Arlekar said, adding that nearly Rs.1.46 crore was saved by going completely paperless during the monsoon session.

Arlekar also said through the 15 working days of the monsoon session, nearly 1.08 lakh sheets of A4 paper would have been used if the proceedings were conducted conventionally, with legislative questions and answers were printed or cyclostyled.

Nearly 1,000 starred questions, queries which are qualified to be raised by legislators during question hour and nearly 1,300 unstarred questions, legislative questions in which bulk information is solicited by legislators, were asked during the now concluded session.

Goa is the first legislative assembly in India to go entirely paperless.

Arlekar also said only five sets of legislative questions and answers were published every day for sake of official record and as back-up.