Teachers, students pay electricity bills

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, October 18

Not spending even a single penny from the allocated funds and allegedly forcing the teachers and students to pay the electricity bills from their pockets in Faridkot and Bathinda district has put the district education authorities in the dock.

The School Education Department has allocated Rs 5.07 crore to pay the electricity bills of government schools in the state for the current fiscal.

Of Rs 11.11 lakh allocated to Faridkot district in this regard, not even a single penny has been used so far.

Same is the case with Bathinda district, where out of total Rs 14.02 lakh allocated funds, no money has been used till now.

While the schools in Bathinda district have submitted electricity bills of Rs 47,730 to the district treasury, no such bill has been submitted in Faridkot.

While the non-payment of electricity bills kept disrupting the functioning of many government schools and sometimes the students and teachers are left without power supply, thus forcing them to make collection and pay the bills, Rs 3.54 crore of Rs 5.07 crore funds meant for the payment of electricity bills are lying unused with the department, revealed sources in the revenue and accounts branch of the School Education Department.

Most of the government schools have complained of not receiving any fund for electricity bills for the past many months. After using the amalgamated funds, teachers and students in many schools contributed money to pay the electricity bills. 

Of the total 5.07crore allocated to 22 districts in the state, the schools have submitted bills of Rs 1.64 crore and Rs 1.53 crore was paid to the schools. 

In a letter sent to all district education officers (DEOs) on Thursday, the School Education Department lamented that most of the schools have not submitted their electricity bills in the treasury for reimbursement or payment of the bills.

Baljit Kaur, District Education Officer (DEO), Faridkot, said she didn’t know the reasons for the non-utilisation of funds for the payment of electricity bills. 

“We wrote to all schools heads on Thursday to submit the electricity bills in the treasury to avail of the allocated funds,” the District Education Officer added.