Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia
The AAP government is ready to spend Rs 25 lakh for each room in a government school building if that fulfills the objective of imparting quality education, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia Tuesday said, a day after the BJP's Delhi unit alleged large scale corruption in the construction of classrooms.
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.
Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari had claimed on Monday that there is a "scam" of Rs 2,000 crore in the construction of classrooms for Delhi government schools.
Citing an RTI reply, Tiwari had claimed that the AAP government constructed 12,782 classrooms at a cost of Rs 2,892 crore and this could have been done by spending just Rs 800 crore.
At an inspection of government schools in Mandawali in East Delhi, Sisodia, who also handles the education portfolio, 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 state-of-the-art classrooms, computer labs, laboratories, staircases, music rooms, libraries, corridors, playgrounds, swimming pools, toilets, water and electricity supply systems, wastewater treatment systems among others.
"The BJP doesn't want that the kids of the poor people, who have migrated to the national capital from states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in search of livelihood, to get quality education... due to the fear that these students will start questioning them on the state of education in these states," he said.
He said he was happy that his government was creating a modern infrastructure to provide quality education to the children and the results prove it.
"Delhi has a pass percentage of 95 percent, no other state boasts of such an achievement.
"We will spend Rs 25 lakh per room if that fulfills 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 step back," he said.
He also claimed that "the Standing Committee of the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation recently come 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.
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