nagpur :- ZP lets bicycles gather rust

Strange are the ways of the Congress-ruled Zilla Parishad (ZP). They wouldn`t mind allowing something to rust, but will not hand it over to the rightful claimants.

In one such glaring case, the ZP has denied over 1,000 `identified` students from the reserved category to get bicycles under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader and ZP member Anandrao Raut said that due to the negligent attitude of ZP president Suresh Bhoyar, eligible students are yet to get bicycles. These cycles have been kept on open places of gram panchayat offices across the district and are even gathering rust after being exposed to the elements.

"Around 200 cycles are kept on the terrace and godown of the Gram Panchayat Bhavan in Civil Lines area," said Raut.

He claimed that in 2009-2010, the ZP had spent Rs 1.8 crore to purchase 3,853 bicycles for backward category students. The ambitious scheme was launched by the central government to curb school dropout rate in rural areas.

Raut, who is representing Bhivapur, claimed that 270 students from his tehsil were shortlisted for the benefits before the new academic session began. Even though two months have passed since the schools have started, as many as 136 students are yet to get bicycles. "It`s the case in other tehsils too," Raut claimed.

The ZP member was extremely critical of the functioning of the ZP. He pointed out that for the solar light scheme, the ZP office has received four applications, but it has selected 11 beneficiaries. Moreover, the ZP has allocated 60 solar lights. He said that this mismatch of numbers shows the corruption prevalent in the ZP these days.