Rs 9 crore spent on 746 girl schools in Uttar Pradesh with no attendance record

LUCKNOW: The state government has sought a report from basic education officers in 18 districts over withdrawal of Rs 9 crore from banks meant for distribution of food, medicines and stationery to a chain of residential schools for girls — Kasturba Girls Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV) — which has no record of student attendance in the last academic session.Officials said either girls didn’t attend class or their attendance was not uploaded online. The government-run school chain comprises 746 KGBVs for girls from economically weaker section.
The basic education department, however, said, officials have recorded expenditure made by districts for food, stationery supply and medical aid, but they have no data on student attendance. Special secretary, basic education, Vijay Kiran Anand, said the department has sought details from 18 districts on student attendance between January and March this year. In his letter to BSAs, Anand stated that even when no attendance data was uploaded on the Prerna portal, there has been 100% payment for food, medical aid and stationery supply and this is clearly a pointer to irregularities.
Talking to TOI, Anand said, “All basic shiksha adhikaris (BSAs) have been asked to send documents to the state project office of the Samagra Shiksha till June 15. Based on online feed, we can see the amount spent by districts, but funds utilisation needs to be substantiated by documents.”
As per expenditure estimates, Rs 96 lakh was withdrawn for KGBV food supply, medical care and stationery in Gonda, Rs 84 lakh withdrawn in Bareilly, Rs 74 lakh in Bijnor, Rs 68 lakh in Deoria, Rs 31 lakh in Fatehpur, Rs18 lakh in Ghaziabad, Rs 32 lakh in Kanshiram Nagar, Rs 23 lakh in Mau, Rs 26 lakh each withdrawn in Meerut, Shravasti and Sonbhadra, Rs 63 lakh in Rae Bareli, Rs 76 lakh in Pratapgarh, Rs 38 lakh in Sant Kabir Nagar, Rs 47 lakh in Unnao and Rs 44 lakh in Sultanpur.