The scheme to provide free meals was meant for 30,000 students of upto Class VIII
The state government is probing the likelihood of its non-residential hostel scheme for students in Beed being used to siphon funds by including the names of fake beneficiaries. Under the scheme, food is provided to students of upto Class VIII whose parents migrate for work.
The scheme in zilla parishad schools was launched in 2012-13, and aims to prevent migration of students with their parents, since it results in them dropping out of school. Around Rs 25 crore is spent every year on this, and even students who study in other institutes can partake of meals twice a day. Drought-affected Beed sees distress migration of around 3 lakh people.
“We found that the number of students was around 10 per cent less than what’s shown in the records,” Amol Yedage, CEO, Beed zilla parishad, said.
While the scheme has around 30,000 students on record, an inspection revealed around 3,000 were missing. “School authorities have to give us an estimated number of students who will have food there. We conducted the inspection before payments were made,” he explained.
He said around Rs 1,430 is allocated per student per month, or over Rs 25 lakh for the 3,000 missing children. “Show-cause notices have been issued to principals. Until they explain further, we cannot take any action. We also can’t say that (bogus or ghost beneficiaries) account for the missing names,” he said.
CURIOUS CASE OF MISSING BENEFICIARIES
- The scheme to provide free meals was meant for 30,000 students of upto Class VIII
- When an inspection was held, 3,000 of these students were found to be missing.
- Rs 1,430 allotted per student, so the 3,000 missing children account for over Rs 25 lakh.
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