The Education Minister of Uttarakhand, Mantri Prasad Naithani met the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani at Shastri Bhawan in New Delhi on Friday and requested her to release pending budget of the department.
Naithani told Irani that the Union Government is yet to release an amount of Rs106.12 crore under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) due to which the project is being affected in the State. He said that similarly the Centre’s share in Unnati Scheme and teachers’ salary is also pending.
Naithani requested the Union HRD minister to release a sum of Rs242.62 crores pending under different heads. He informed that the State Government is forced to bear an extra burden of Rs46 Crore on the salaries of upgraded schools of RMSA as the Central Government is providing a sum of Rs48150 per month for salary of Principal and Rs39776 for salary of teachers while the State Government is paying Rs70,000 and 60,000 per month to Principals and teachers of these schools respectively.
The Minister pitched in for release of non recurring expenses of Rs106.12 Crore for past years and recurring expenses of Rs19.34 for current financial year. He said that the union government has only partially released funds for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). Naithani said that the state government has to provide drinking water in 712 schools and for it a sum of Rs600 lakh would be needed.
The Minister informed that the State had completed the task of separate toilets for boys and girls under Swathch Vidhyalaya Abhiyan but due to the geographical factors and disaster the facility is partially disrupted.
He made a request for repair of the toilets to the Union Minister. The HRD Minister assured that the pending budget of the department would be released soon.