The Hindu : New Delhi News : No jerseys for municipal students this winter

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 24, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

No jerseys for municipal students this winter

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 23. With the Municipal Corporation of Delhi unable to distribute jerseys to even 10 per cent of its students till now, the Leader of Opposition in the MCD, Subhash Arya, has accused the Congress-ruled civic administration of being "negligent" towards children coming from the poor sections of society.

Referring to the "inordinate delays" in procurement of two sets of uniforms for municipal students even a year after the MCD took the decision and with frequent incidents of poor quality of mid-day meals being reported, Mr. Arya demanded resignation of the Delhi Mayor, A.R. Verma, and the Standing Committee Chairman, Mukesh Goel, on moral grounds at a Press conference here on Wednesday. Mr. Arya demanded a CBI inquiry into the delay in purchase of jerseys and uniforms, which was acknowledged by Mr. Goel at the Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday and for which he pulled up senior MCD officials.

As per a MCD report, of the 3.83-lakh jerseys ordered the civic body has received only 46,000. Of these, nearly 20,000 have been rejected because of inferior quality. Now it is unlikely that children would be supplied with jerseys by December 31, the deadline set by the MCD, he said.

Mr. Arya also expressed the fear that like last year, the budget allocated for primary education might remain unspent.

At the Standing Committee meeting, Mr. Goel asked the officials to ensure that two sets of uniforms were purchased and distributed among students at the earliest. "We would not spare the officials if the budget allocated is not spent before the end of the financial year," the Leader of House, Satbir Singh, warned.

At its meeting, the Standing Committee approved the proposal to purchase and distribute one pair of shoes and two pairs of socks to students studying in MCD schools at an estimated cost of Rs. 7.24 crores.

"This is a promise made by us to the municipal students," Mr. Goel said. "Such a social welfare measure would prove to be an incentive for students to come to schools."

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