In what could turn out to be an embarrassment for the ruling SAD-BJP alliance, the Centre’s fact-finding team has reportedly found irregularities in the way the State Education Minister and the three-member panel carried out its functioning.
On the other hand, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal termed it as “pressure tactics” by the State Congress. “Our Government is always ready with any kind of probe and Congress party is pressuring the Union Government to misuse their authority by sending the team. Our Government has nothing to hide and Congress cannot survive on the temporary dose of media coverage on these issues,” Sukhbir said during his Amritsar visit.
For examining the paperbacks in schools and libraries across Punjab, a four-member team of Union Ministry of Human Resource Development is in the State since June 12. It visited a number of Government schools of the State on Friday to find out the quality of the science lab kits and the books distributed to the students under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).
Already, the department’s three-member committee, responsible for sanctioning and purchase of the science kits and books, had come under scanner of the central team which has found various anomalies in the supply of books and purchase of science kits in the Government schools.
The team has, in fact, found irregularity in the constitution of three-member panel. The panel, suspended after the scams surfaced, included Director Public Instructions (elementary) Pritpal Kaur, SAS Nagar District Education Officer Vinod Kumar, and Punjab School Education Board’s finance and development officer Gurtej Singh.
The Centre’s fact-finding team comprise NCERT Secondary School Department’s associate professor Ranjana Arora, HRD Ministry’s under secretary (finance) Arun Kumar, chief consultant procurement TSG-SSA Gopalan, and children literature’s expert Subir Shukla.
During its three-day investigation in the State education department, the team queried State Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka, his close associates, education secretary Anjali Bhawra, Director General School Education (DGSE) Kahan Singh Pannu, the three committee members, among others.
The team has also thoroughly scrutinised the documents related to purchase of books worth Rs9.2 crores, and also the records concerning the tendering process and the nominated firms for procuring 754 science lab kits with Rs7.5 crores, besides other related documents.
As the committee members were not well versed with Punjabi which is generally used in Punjab government’s files, the DGSE office staff has translated the same into English for the committee.