Day after the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged massive scam in the classroom construction project, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is ready to spend Rs 25 lakh for each room in a Government building if that meet the objective of imparting quality education. Sisodia said he is committed to improving Delhi’s education quality and he is not going to step back even if somebody wants to send him to jail.
Education Minister Sisodia said that he is committed to creating state-of-the-art infrastructure in government schools and will not step back even if he is sent to jail.
Notably, citing a RTI response, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) constructed 12,782 classrooms at a cost of Rs 2,892 crore and this could have done by spending just Rs 800 crore.
At an inspection of a Government school in Mandawali in East Delhi, Sisodia said the BJP’s Delhi unit was making “unfounded allegations” of corruption against the AAP Government.
He explained that Rs 2,892 crore included the cost of constructing of state-of-the-art classrooms, computer labs, laboratories, staircases, music rooms, libraries, corridors, playgrounds, swimming pools, toilets, water and electricity supply systems, waste water treatment systems among others.
“The BJP does not want that the kids of the poor people migrated to the national capital from states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in search of livelihood, to get quality education in Delhi government schools,” Sisodia added.
He said he was happy
that his government was creating modern infrastructure to provide quality education to the children and the results prove it.
“Delhi has a pass percentage of 95 per cent, no other state boasts of such an achievement,” the AAP leader said.
“We will spend Rs 25 lakh per room if that fulfils our objective of providing quality education to poor students. I am committed to it... Even if somebody wants to send me to jail, I am not going to step back,” he said.
He also claimed that “the Standing Committee of the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation recently came out with a proposal to construct 43 rooms in a school at a cost of Rs 10.73 crore, which means Rs 24.95 lakh per room”.
“And, this estimate doesn’t include the cost of furniture, electricity fittings, water harvesting systems, sewage treatment plant, corridors, lab equipment etc. This means it is not the AAP but the BJP which is indulging in corruption,” he claimed.
During the inspection, Ishika, a Class 12 student, had earlier said, girl students would bring mats to sit as there were no chairs and desks but “all of that has changed now”.
A teacher said the staff would un-install fans and tubelights before summer vacations and re-install the after the classes reassembled.
“We have got a boundary wall now and as a result, incidents of theft have come down. We would bring water bottles from home as there was no clean drinking water in schools. Now, we have revers osmosis systems installed on every floor,” she said.