Panel finds 2 parallel processes were on to procure library books
Edu dept anomalies : Central team finds some portions of the books obscene,unfit for children
A four-member central fact-finding team probing the alleged irregularities in Punjab Education Department has found two parallel processes were ordered for the procurement of library books for government-run primary schools.
While treading cautiously and working strictly within the mandate given to it,the team sent by the Union HRD Ministry called for records from the office of the Director General of School Education (DGSE) and Director of Public Instruction (elementary) to check the procedure adopted for procurement and supply of textbooks,science kits and other reading material to the state government schools.
It detected that both the DGSE and the DPI (elementary) had ordered parallel processes for procurement of library books for primary schools.
While the records of the DPI (elementary) showed that a three-member tender committee was constituted to procure books,as per a DGSE office letter dated March 30,the DGSE (Kahan Singh Pannu) had instructed that the books be procured from the Punjab Languages Department catalogue. As per the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan norms being followed in Punjab so far,the DGSE office releases funds and directs school managements to purchase library books.
The central team visited two schools in Mohali and one in Fathegarh Sahib district to physically verify the quality of science kits and content of the library books. The Punjabi content in books was translated for the team,which found some portions “obscene and unfit for children”.
According to sources,some schools also told the central team that they were given verbal instructions to buy library books from a Sardoolgarh-based supplier “nominated” by a panel headed by DPI (elementary) Pritpal Kaur. The representatives of the firm,some school principals divulged,carried “nomination” letter to schools and gave up to 14 per cent discount on the books. They were given cheques of Rs 3,000 for library books for primary schools and Rs 10,000 for books for upper primary to middle-level classes.
The schools’ authorities claimed to have negotiated discounts up to 40 per cent with the suppliers in the past. Though Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka admitted that Rs 44 lakh were so far spent on the books,it is expected that the books supplied to schools in Ropar,Sangrur,Patiala,Bathinda and Mohali would have cost up to Rs 1 crore of the permissible Rs 9.28 crore.
In case of the science kits,the team found out that the same process of tendering was used though there were no parallel orders. Here too,the panel held no negotiations with the five Ambala-based firms,which made the same bids.
As per the norms,in case of same quotation,the education department can negotiate and allot the bid to the one who agrees to the lowest rates. Though no funds from the Rs 7.5-crore grant for laboratory kits under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) was released,the team found that science kits had reached some schools.
The central panel has also procured the report of the probe done by DHSE Pannu on orders of principal secretary Anjali Bhawara,which had pointed out differences between market price and supply price of school materials and hinted at need for further probe into the matter.
The team will go through all the records procured from the department and submit its report to the Union HRD ministry.
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