The BMC is planning to disburse cash to students using the Centre’s Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) scheme for the purpose of buying educational material. However, corporators have strongly opposed the move saying it may not be beneficial to students.
“Our plan to disburse cash to buy educational material is more or less based on the DCT scheme. The scheme, however, will apply for selected items only. Bank accounts for civic students will be opened and the amount will be directly deposited in them so that parents can use the money to buy educational accessories for their kids,” said a senior civic official.
For several government schemes, the Centre has started the DCT scheme, in which the amount will be directly credited to the beneficiaries’ accounts without having to go to banks or post offices.
The BMC, in a bid to provide aid to poor and needy children, distributes 27 educational items, which include uniforms, books, bags, raincoats, shoes, tiffin boxes etc to all civic students. The civic body also provides an attendance allowance of `50 every month to girl students.
“For girl students, we have already opened bank accounts, in which the attendance allowance is directly deposited.
So now bank accounts only for boys will have to
be opened,” said the official.
However, corporators have strongly opposed the civic body’s move saying that it will not serve the desired purpose. Raising the issue in the civic standing committee on Wednesday, house leader Yashodhar Phanse said the decision has been taken without taking corporators into confidence.
“Under the present scheme, students used to get educational kits directly from the civic body. But there is no guarantee that cash deposited by the BMC will be used by parents to buy these items for their kids,” he said.
BJP group leader Dilip Patel said, “There is uniformity in the present scheme by which students are getting all items of the same quality and value. However, the same cannot be said about the direct cash transfer scheme.”
Samajwadi Party group leader Rais Shaikh pointed out the cash transfer scheme has failed in Rajasthan. The civic body should consult the NGOs for its successful implementation, he said.