The stinginess shown by the Finance Minister Indira Hridayesh in making Budgetary allocations for education has raised several eyebrows. The State Government has reduced the Budget allocated to the medical education and technical education substantially.
The Finance Minister has made a provision of Rs5734.85 crore for education sector in the State Budget which is a mere 4.61 per cent higher than Rs5470.52 crore allotted last year.
The Government has allotted Rs268.25 crore for medical education department which is much less than Rs408.18 crore earmarked last year. Similarly Rs167.43 crore allotted for technical education are less than last year’s allotment.
The Government increased the Budget for school education but experts believe that the increase is too meager as Government has allotted Rs4902.33 crore this year against Rs4551.94 crore earmarked last year. A retired senior education department officer BS Bisht told The Pioneer that the State government has declared to open English medium residential schools in all the 95 blocks but the budget has no mention of monetary allocation for them.
He said that the allotted budget for education would be used up in the paying the salaries of the employees only. The education department is the biggest employer and the State Government depends on the Central Government to pay for the salaries of the teachers recruited under Sarva Shikha Abhiyan (SSA).
The reduction in budgetary support for the medical education has also put question mark on the State Government’s intention to build two new medical colleges in the State.
In her budget speech the finance minister has reiterated her Government’s intention to open medical colleges in Dehradun and Haldwani but did not specified from where the money for these big projects would come.
The President of Uttarakhand Chapter of Indian Medical Association (IMA) Dr Kuldeep Datta told The Pioneer that the whole exercise of opening new medical colleges is farce.
He informed that the criteria of minimum population for opening new medical colleges are not being followed in Uttarakhand.
Dr Datta said that the viability aspect should also be considered before opening tertiary medical facility like Medical colleges.