14 electric cars handed over to General Education department
The fund will be used for various activities, including monitoring of midday meal scheme.
Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has flagged off electric cars provided on lease to the offices of 14 deputy directors of education under the General Education department as part of an e-mobility scheme of Agency for New and Renewable Energy Research and Technology (Anert).
ANERT chief executive officer Narendra Nath Veluri handed over keys of the e-cars to Mr. Sivankutty. Director of General Education Shanavas S. and Anert e-mobility division head Manoharan J. were also present.
DGE’s clarification
Meanwhile, Mr. Shanavas, in a statement on Saturday, clarified that the vehicles were taken on lease as per the Union government’s guidelines. The terms of government vehicles that were bought using the same fund in 2009 in the 14 DDE offices ended in May, following which a decision to lease vehicles from ANERT, a government agency, was taken.
The vehicles will be used for various activities, including monitoring of midday meal scheme. The department monitors the scheme in 12,000 schools. However, only 14 vehicles have been allotted to cater to the requirements of 218 revenue, district, and sub-district offices under the department.
The Union and the State government sanctioned funds for the midday meal scheme under four heads – funds to schools for running the scheme (material cost); honorarium for the cooks under the scheme; payment to Food Corporation of India for the rice and to Supplyco as freight charges for the rice. However, these funds could not be used for administrative and other uses. In such a situation, 2.7% of the Union government funds under these four heads was sanctioned under the management monitoring and evaluation (MME) head for meeting administrative expenses. The State government could utilise this fund for purchasing or leasing vehicles, according to the midday meal scheme guidelines issued by the Union government in 2006 as well as the revised guidelines of 2010 for utilising MME funds. It was on this basis that the vehicles had been leased from ANERT for a period of five years at a cost of ₹81.14 lakh.
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