The authorities have, meanwhile, directed the schools to make use of the unused funds provided by the Election Commission for the electrification during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections
Meerut: More than 28,000 government schools in Uttar Pradesh do not still have power connections and the main reason for which is the “distance of electricity poles from these schools”. This was brought to fore by a review of the details submitted by state-run schools to the government authorities.
The authorities have, meanwhile, directed the schools to make use of the unused funds provided by the Election Commission for the electrification during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“During the review of the details submitted by the schools for Prerna portal, it was found that 28,360 government schools in the state do not have power connections and the main reason for which is attributed to the distance of electricity poles from these schools being too far. It was found that in a majority of cases, electricity poles are situated at least 40 metres — even more distant in a few cases — away from these schools,” said Vijay Kiran Anand, director general, school education, UP.
“During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission had provided certain funds to the state-run schools to get power connections for converting them into polling booths, following which an amount of Rs 32.67 crore was released, out of which Rs 4.7 crore is still with them. The schools have been instructed to use the pending amount to get power connections and inform the officials concerned of the electricity department to get the work done by October 15,” said Anand.
Anand, however, added that the schools that did not have the 2019 funds left with them should provide the details of the money required by September 30. “Once the requirement of funds is listed, the money will be released to the schools concerned.”
Source: energy.economictimes.indiatimes
