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More than 1,500 brand new scooters purchased so that meritorious girls from poor families could continue higher education are slowly turning to scrap in two colleges in Banswara in southern Rajasthan. Bought at Rs 80,000 each as part of a flagship scheme of the Rajasthan government, the scooters tell a story of taxpayer money – nearly Rs 12 crore in this instance –  gathering rust. 

The Kali Bai Bheel Scooty Scheme, launched in 2020, was aimed at encouraging girls with a good academic record from families with an annual income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh to pursue further studies in Classes 11 and 12 and college. To be eligible, the girls had to score 65% or more in the state board exams and 75% or more in the CBSE exams in Class 10 or 12. 

The scooters have been parked on the grounds of the Vidyamandir College and the Hardev Joshi Government Girls College in Banswara since 2023 and officials said the change in government late last year and the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections have delayed their distribution. The BJP won the Assembly elections last year and took over from the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government, under which the scheme was launched. 

After girls apply for the scooters, a QR code is generated for each of them by the finance department after making sure that they meet the criteria. In the case of the 1,500 scooters, the code has not been generated 

Dr Sarla Pandya, principal of Hardev Joshi Government Girls College, said, “We are the nodal college for distributing scooties under the welfare scheme. They were not distributed because of the model code of conduct and we are now awaiting a go-ahead from the finance department “

The opposition has called it severe carelessness by the present government. Banswara MP Raj Kumar Roat of the Bharat Adivasi Party said, “This is criminal neglect by this government, the scooters are rusting and turning to scrap instead of reaching the beneficiaries. It is very sad that the government is not monitoring this situation.”

Government’s Take

After NDTV began making enquiries, the administration started pulling out the two-wheelers onto open ground and turning on the ignition to check if they were working. 

Rajasthan Minister For Tribal Welfare Babu Lal Kharadi said the scooters would be distributed within a week but had no answer for why it took the new BJP government nearly a year to realise that they had remained parked. 

“Approximately 3,000 scooties were purchased in 2023 and 1,500 were distributed. This is a matter related to the previous government. There were the Lok Sabha elections and then the Assembly session… we will ensure the scooters are distributed within a week,” he said. 

Mr Kharadi also said action will be taken against officials for the neglect of government assets 

New Delhi:

The entire 1,643 km porous India-Myanmar border, known for the smuggling of arms, ammunition and narcotics, will be fenced at a cost of Rs 31,000 crore, sources said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said fencing work had been completed in 30 km of the border, which he termed the root cause of the ethnic violence in Manipur.

The Cabinet Committee on Security has, in principle, approved the construction of border fencing and roads along the 1,643-km international border between India and Myanmar at an approximate cost of Rs 31,000 crore, sources said.

About 10 km of fencing has already been completed near Moreh and work is underway to fence another 21 km of the border in other areas of Manipur.

The India-Myanmar border passes through Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

The Central government has already scrapped the the India-Myanmar Free Movement Regime (FMR), which allows people residing close to the border to venture 16 km into each other’s territory without any documents. It was implemented in 2018 as part of India’s Act East policy.

Home Minister Shah has been regularly reviewing the security situation in Manipur and necessary actions are being ensured, the sources said.

Two battalions of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have already been deployed in Manipur. In addition, around 200 companies (about 100 personnel in one company) of central police forces were deployed in the restive states.

The Manipur government has started using 25 mobile vans as shops to provide essential commodities at fair prices to the general public. These shops on wheels are operating in all districts of Manipur, sources said.

As a new initiative, the Kendriya Police Kalyan Bhandars (KPKB, police canteens) have been opened from Tuesday to provide essential commodities to the people of Manipur at fair prices, they said.

In addition to the 21 existing such police canteens, 16 new stores are being opened. Of the 16 new police canteens, eight will be in the valley districts of Manipur, and the remaining eight in hilly areas.

Ethnic violence started in Manipur on May 3 last year after a tribal solidarity march in the hill districts of the state to protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

Since then, over 220 people belonging to both the Kuki and Meitei communities and security personnel have been killed in the continuing violence.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)