Imphal, Jul 18: Levelling a series of charges against the Directorate of School Education a number of tribal organisations have said that a huge amount of money released under different schemes by the Centre has been misappropriated.

A joint statement issued by the Zeliangrong Youth Front, Movement for Tribal Peoples' Right, Manipur, All Colleges Tribals Students' Organisation, Sadar Hills Youth Union and Tribal Vigilance Forum, Manipur said that funds meant for the schools of the hills released under different schemes have been misappropriated.

Giving a detailed account, the statement said that under the ACA programme Rs 30 crores was released for upgradation/construction of 15 higher secondary schools at the cost of Rs 1,75,18,570 per school.

For the 15 schools this works out to Rs 25,67,78,550, said the statement and added that an amount of Rs 4,32,21,450 was kept aside from the total amount of Rs 30 crores for the construction of library and purchasing equipments such as computers etc.

Out of the Rs 4,32,21,450, each of the 15 schools are to receive Rs 13,14,685, said the statement and added that this works out to Rs 1,97,20,275.Therefore Rs 2,35,00,175 is missing, said the statement and questioned how this has come about.

Under Computer Training Programme, the Directorate of School Education withdrew Rs 82,93,200 only so far to impart computer training to school teachers for 40 schools with one teacher per school.

This means that approximately Rs 2 lakhs was earmarked for each teacher, said the statement and questioned whether the inflated expenditure given by the Dept.

The statement further said that under the CSS Computer Class Project, an amount of Rs 1,25,00,000 has been withdrawn for 25 schools with each school supposed to receive Rs 5 lakhs.

Under the project 10 computers were to be installed with necessary accessories at each school.

However some of these schools have been clubbed together under the ACA computer programme and this has given room for the money to be misappropriated, said the statement.

So far no computer under this programme has been supplied to the schools in the hill districts, said the statement and added that some schools at the valley have been supplied with 5/6 computers with proper accessories though the whole amount was withdrawn in 2005.Under the 11th Finance Commission, the School Education Department has already withdrawn Rs 17,90,000 for construction of 3 class rooms, said the statement and questioned for which schools the amount was withdrawn.

Another Rs 77,83,539 was also withdrawn on August 26, 2005 for construction in the name of EE District Council, Engineering Cells, said the statement and questioned where those schools are.

On SSA programme, the tribal organisations said that out of the 60,91,09,200 sanctioned for the State an amount of Rs 22,77,00,600 have already been withdrawn.

Moreover Rs 30,45,54,600 has also been sanctioned for payment without verifying the progress of the work, said the statement and added that now only Rs 9,68,07,000 is left.

In addition to the earlier total amount, the Centre has also released Rs 938.06 lakhs in 2002-203, Rs 2370.39 lakhs in 2003-2004 and Rs 4601.13 lakhs in 2004-2005, as pre-project activity fund and the same has been withdrawn said the statement.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development sanctioned an amount of Rs 5 crores as Grant-in-Aid for payment to voluntary organisations/ autonomous organisations.

However no payment has been made, as found out till date, charged the statement and questioned if any payment has been made, then under what criteria.

The statement recalled that no advertisement through mass media such as newspapers or radio were made.

Levying further charges, the statement said that the School Education Department has also withdrawn a huge amount of money under SSA programme to pay resource persons.

However not a single resource persons were recruited and instead teachers from the Department were pressed into service.

Therefore on what basis was the amount withdrawn for paying to whom, countered the tribal organisations.

The tribal organisations also furnished the fake appointment numbers of 29 employees in the School Education Department.

Urging the State Government to set things right and rope in the service of the CBI within 10 days to cleanse the mess and pull up the erring people, the tribal organisations warned that if their representation is unheeded then they will take up a series of agitation.

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