Civic school sanitation plan yet to take off,Rs 4.5 cr still lies idle

Education board of PMC had sought permission from the government to use Rs 4.5 crore that the High Court had kept in its custody in 2009 after PMC school uniform scam had come to light in 2008.

To improve sanitation and hygiene in schools,in April,2010,the education board of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had sought permission from the government to use Rs 4.5 crore that the High Court had kept in its custody in 2009 after PMC school uniform scam had come to light in 2008. However,more than one-and-a-half years down the line,the education board has not come up with any concrete steps,as a result of which money lies unused.

The matter came to light after Chetan Gandhi of PM Shah Foundation sought the details through an RTI. According to the information that I got through the RTI,Rs 4.5 crore was submitted to the HC on March 31,2009. Later,the PMC filed a resolution to use this money for supplying clean drinking water to PMC schools. But till date,neither a penny has been used to improve the facilities,nor any scheme related to this has been conceptualised.

PM Shah Foundation had carried out a survey in 2009 where they visited 50 PMC schools and studied their conditions. At the time,we found toilets in many schools in deplorable state. Students used to abstain from drinking water to avoid using the toilets. The PMC was given Rs 2 crore for the maintenance of these toilets. A government resolution states the ratio of children to toilets should be 40:1. Some 77 PMC schools do not adhere to the norm, added Gandhi.

On being asked why even after more than a year,nothing has been done with the money,PMC education board administration officer Ramchandra Jadhav said,”The amount is still with the court and after adding the interest,the amount is Rs 5 crore. We are in the process of forming schemes for providing clean drinking water in schools. We are also thinking of using the surplus amount in providing e-learning facilities to more schools.

Education activist Sandeep Chavan of Forum for Fairness in Education said,The problem with PMC schools is that most of the students belong to economically weaker sections and as their parents do not know what their wards are supposed to get from the government,they do not raise a voice. The PMC officials are taking advantage of this and doing nothing to improve the condition of their schools.

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