NEW DELHI: Government estimates it will save 90 tonnes of paper (worth Rs 40 crore) annually which is used to print 3.5 crore pages of gazette notifications every year, as it stops their physical printing and introduces e-publishing. The move will also save power, chemicals, colour and dyes, which is a major environment-friendly initiative.

Following an order issued by the Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu, the physical printing of these notifications has stopped from October 1. "The e-publishing also puts an end to the long wait for the important documents, which used to take weeks and months in many cases," said an urban development ministry spokesperson.

Gazette notification is an important legal requirement to validate, authenticate and to make effective various kinds of laws, Acts, rules, orders and government decisions.

"Seeking to end delays, UD ministry has directed the department of publication to stop physical printing and switch over to e-publishing of all gazette notifications on its official website within five days of receipt of the same from respective ministries and departments. The records for the gazette will be maintained by the department for all future references," an official release said.

User groups and citizens can download and print all gazette notifications free of charge. As per the IT Act, downloaded and printed gazette copies are sufficient for all official and legal purposes.

The decision is also being seen as another step towards Digital India target as set by the Prime Minister.

E-gazette was launched in April 2008 and the website is now popular. Officials said the UD ministry had referred the proposal to law ministry which had given the go-ahead.

While the decision to switch over to e-notification as the only mode is being seen as progressive, officials said the government should also consider the proposal to do away with huge number of hard copies printed for replies to Parliament questions. "That's a huge wastage and in several cases we find the questions asked are same from different members and even same questions get repeated in every session," said a government official.

He added the answers can be mailed to the members concerned and even the answers can be displayed electronically for the benefit of all members.