Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 1: In a shocking development that craves for a high level probe, a government report has found out that the considerable number of government schools in Jammu division lack basic facilities like electricity raising concerns over what happened to crores of rupees granted by New Delhi for the task in the last over seven decades.
Official data, as accessed by the Early Times, has pointed out that of the total of 12,323 schools in Jammu, 5,360 are without electricity though a huge sum was annually granted to each of such schools for the purpose.
Officials said the School Education Department had been getting regular grants from the Ministry of Human Resource Development for maintenance of schools including supply of power and potable water. Official sources said over the years, New Delhi released a staggering amount of more than 10,000 crore rupees as annual grant for schools in the erstwhile state. Sources said “Apart from grant of this huge sum under the SSA and RMSA schemes, each of the high, and higher secondary schools were granted an additional Rs 50,000 aid, regularly.”
A senior official said Jammu has more number of government schools as compared to Kashmir and thus a major portion of the grants should have been spent in the winter capital region itself.
“But when even the basic facilities like electricity are not being provided to the schools even after seventy years, one has every right to ask the government to tell the people as to where the money has gone and how much the previous regimes swindled?” the official added.
Talking to Early Times on the condition of anonymity, a senior official in the Civil Secretariat said it was high time for the government to order a high level probe.” “SSA and RMSA had been infamous as hub of corruption that run into crores and now when the report has confirmed the plight of schools, what should prevent the government from ordering a high level probe to know the truth,” the official said.
It is pertinent to mention that the “dynasts” who previously ruled the erstwhile state were accused of “large scale corruption in league with some babus at the helm.” |
