The just-concluded budget sessions of the Assembly and the
Legislative Council could well be assessed as the costliest in
the recent years when reckoned by the business transacted. The
Legislature Secretariat officials, who provided information
about the number of hours the two Houses functioned just for the
asking, were unwilling to part with details of expenditure.
Scribes however secured these details too. On being coaxed the
officer said the Assembly/Council session cost the ex-chequer
Rs. 8,500 per minute. When similarly cajoled, an AP Central
Power Distribution Company Limited engineer revealed that the
consumption of electricity by the Assembly and Legislative
Council during session was 2,000 units per day. Both officials
grumbled that members of the Assembly walked away with freebies
gifted by different Government Departments as if acknowledging
the legislative service they had done.  Of Bills and allowances
Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayan Reddy was upset over the
disruption to the proceedings in t