TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said that one time grant under flagship scheme-Bal Rath, would be provided to each school per bus as recurring expenditure towards the buses, instead of its earlier practice of giving them monthly remunerations.
Parrikar informed media persons that the schools in urban area would be given a grant of Rs 3.10 lakh annually while rural schools will get Rs 3.20 lakh under this scheme. “The maintenance of the bus, its fuelling and salary to the driver and attendant has to be paid by the school,” Parrikar said.
Parrikar, who is also Minister for Education, was speaking while handling over 25 new buses under Bal Rath scheme, implemented through directorate of education, to schools, this afternoon.
The chief minister pointed out that the scheme got a setback following complaints about non-payment of salaries to drivers and conductors. “The government aims to provide proper transportation to the students by strengthening the educational infrastructure of the State,” he said. The scheme has already been notified and implemented from the ongoing academic year.
Schools will have to keep minimum Rs 1 lakh in their bank account which would be like a surety that they would pay salary of the drivers and attendants recruited on the bus, Parrikar said.
The chief minister also said that some schools will be provided buses on hire basis which would be owned and managed by unemployed youth who will be given the required financial assistance to procure buses under the Chief Minister’s Rojgar Yojana Scheme. “This will help several youth in earning their livelihood,” he said, adding that the schools would be given an option to choose which bus they want.
Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza along with his cabinet colleagues including Ramakrishna Dhavalikar, Alina Saldanha, Mahadev Naik, Dilip Parulekar and Avertano Furtado were present for the launch.
