Goa Governor S S Sidhu today said efforts were being made to reduce the pendency of court cases through measures such as evening courts.

Addressing the legislative assembly today, the Governor said that South Goa district had pendency of around 10,104 civil and criminal cases in various courts.

"To eradicate pendency of civil and criminal cases, south Goa district has proposed three evening or shift courts each at Salcete, Quepem and Sanguem taluka," he said.

The five-day assembly session began this morning at Porvorim complex.

Sidhu said that as many as 50 government services have been made available online.

"Government, through Info Tech Corporation of Goa Limited, has set up an e-SMS gateway for the exclusive use of all the state departments of Goa."

This is the first step towards delivery of information to citizens through mobile phones, he added.

"Citizens can now look forward to receiving various informative services on the mobiles," the Governor said.

He said that government was trying to contribute to a "green initiative" by using mobile phone technology to cut down usage of paper.