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Ludhiana schools suffer as govt withdraws unutilised funds
Government school development works halted due to withdrawal of grants, delayed payments to vendors and salaries of staff. Authorities await reallocation of funds.
The development works are halted at the government schools due to the withdrawal of unutilised periodical grants by the education department in March end, said authorities.
The school authorities said, there is pending deposition of sports fund to the department and delayed payments to the vendors involved in various development work of the schools. They were verbally directed by the department in February to hold the payments, the authorities added.
A government senior secondary school principal said, “We were assured of reallocation of the grants for payment to the vendors. But, it has been more than a month that their payment is halted and we are being pressured to clear the bills.” The salaries of watchmen and sweepers have not been paid for the past four months. “We are forced to pay them out of the amalgamated funds and we are left with no other option,” added the principal.
Another government senior secondary school principal said, the sweeper denied performing her duty due to delayed salary. “The strength of my school and the amalgamated funds are less. We cannot afford to pay their salaries from this fund,” the principal added.
Director general secondary education, Vinay Bublani, assured the reallocation of grants soon and said, “These grants include the share of the Centre along with the state. The request for the same has already been forwarded to the central government and the procedure has been initiated. Within a month or two, the grant would be reallocated to all the schools.”
The school heads said the excursions and tours, psychometric tests for the students were conducted as directed by the department, but they have failed to complete the payments for the same. Many schools have not been able to deposit the sports fund, the last date for which was April 26.
