MYSORE: The State Government has come under flak for allegedly showing favouritism while sanctioning new schools for the academic year 2006-07.

Santhemarahalli MLA, R. Dhruvanarayan, said the Janata Dal (Secular)-BJP coalition had accorded administrative sanction to start 349 new Government schools in the State.

Of this 300 schools were to be located in the constituencies of BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs, he said.

Nanjundappa committee

Taking exception to what he termed blatant favouritism, Mr. Dhruvanarayan, who belongs to the Congress, said here on Tuesday that the Government had thrown to winds all parameters fixed by the Nanjundappa committee to reduce regional imbalances.

Addressing a press conference, he said this proved that the Government was not interested in reducing regional imbalance through education. The process of selection of location of new schools was devoid of any rationale. This amounted to abuse of political power, said Mr. Dhruvanarayan.

He said new schools were sanctioned in places which did not have an educational institution in a radius of five km and were considered educationally backward. But the present selection was based entirely on political considerations, said Mr. Dhruvanarayan.

He pointed out that five pre-university colleges and eight high schools were sanctioned for Ramanagaram, which is the constituency of H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Documents produced

Likewise, seven PU Colleges and eight high schools were sanctioned for Holenarasipura which was H.D. Revanna's constituency. There were many educationally backward areas, but they were not sanctioned a school or college, said Mr. Dhruvanarayan, who furnished a Government Order and related documents to prove his statements and described the developments as inimical to democracy.

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