E-Paper
₹1 lakh to paint one wall? Madhya Pradesh school hires 168 labourers, 65 masons: Report
In another major twist, the firm that carried out the job created a bill on May 5 of this year, however, the bill was already approved a month before that.
In a bizarre incident, a school in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol district employed 168 labourers and 65 masons to carry out a simple task of applying four litres of paint on one wall of a government school in the district’s Sakandi village, reported NDTV. For this, an amount of ₹1.07 lakh was allegedly withdrawn, a bill of which is making rounds on social media.
The school where this happened falls under Madhya Pradesh’s Byohari Assembly constituency.
In a similar incident in another school of Nipania village, which also falls under the same assembly seat, ₹2.3 lakh was withdrawn to carry out the task of applying 20 litres of paint, the report added.
According to bills, which are circulating online, 168 labourers and 65 masons were employed to paint the wall of the school in Sakandi village, and for the one in Nipania, manpower of 275 labourers and 150 masons was used, according to the bill.
HT.com could not independently obtain and verify the authenticity of the bills circulating online.
In another major twist, the firm that carried out the painting job in the Nipania village school- Sudhakar Construction - created a bill on May 5 of this year, however, the bill was already approved a month before it was even created by the school principal on April 4.
Additionally, the bills are legally required to be presented with before-and-after pictures of the work, however, they were approved without any such photo, the report added.
According to officials, an investigation has been initiated into the matter and action will be taken based on what the probe reveal.
"Bills of these two schools are viral on social media. They are being investigated, action will be taken based on the facts that emerge," NDTV quoted District education officer Phool Singh Marpachi as saying.
