BMC admits to printing error

‘`1.84 cr for sanitisers was to ensure clean hands for all civic students’

A week after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced in its education budget for 2020-21 that Rs 1.84 crore had been allotted to provide hand sanitisers for 815 specially abled students in 17 schools, while the provision of a paltry Rs 50 lakh as financial aid for the first 25 rankholders in Class 10, it has admitted that incorrect information was published in the budget. The chairman of the BMC education committee, Anjali Naik, revealed this on Wednesday.

Naik said, “The information published in the budget is not correct, as there is a printing error. A budget of Rs 1.84 crore has been allotted for hand sanitisers, not just for schools with specially abled students, but for all BMC schools in the city. The amount is allotted to implement use of hand sanitisers for teachers in staff rooms, headmaster’s room, in washrooms for students, as well as for the non-teaching staff in all civic-run schools."

Members of the BMC education committee had questioned the huge fund allocation for this project, while comparing it to the minimal amount allotted for financial aid to meritorious students.

Al-Nasser, BMC education committee member and principal of Awami Junior College, Bandra said, “Are hand sanitisers more important than scholarships? It does not make sense to allot Rs 1.84 crore for hand sanitisers when there is only Rs 50 lakh set aside as financial aid for higher education of rank holders in Class 10 examination.” FPJ EXCLUSIVE