Indian Express: New Delhi:
Monday, April 22, 2013.
The Uttar
Pradesh government has spent 900 per cent above the budget allocated for
building school toilets under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, with nearly 60 per cent of
the total Rs 32.25 crore going to just one district.
Under the central government scheme, Rs 24,000
per unit was allocated for constructing 1,538 toilets during the five year
period from 2007-08 to 2011-12, which comes to Rs 3.69 crore. However, an RTI
response reveals that the state government spent Rs 32.25 crore for the work
during the period.
Nearly 60 per
cent of the funds (or Rs 19 crore) released during the period went to Agra
district, while the rest was distributed in the remaining 74 districts of the
state, an RTI response from the Basic Education Department has revealed.
Jyotiba Phule
Nagar and Kashiram Nagar, both named after Dalit ideologues, were among four
districts which were not allocated any funds for building toilets in schools
even though the BSP, which christened them, was in power for almost the entire
2007-12 period for which data has been provided.
The details
received by Lucknow-based RTI activist Urvashi Sharma show that under SSA, Rs
32.25 crore of central funds were released by the state for building toilets in
schools which comes to about Rs 2.09 lakh per school, nearly nine times or 900
per cent of the budget.
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