Delhi Deputy CM and Education Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday alleged that the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation had prepared an estimate to construct classrooms at ₹24.95 lakh each, but without facilities such as furniture, fire safety equipment, electrical appliances, desks, which the Delhi government provides at almost the same rate.
The BJP, meanwhile, said they constructed the classrooms at ₹12.86 lakh each.
“BJP’s fear is that the Delhi government is delivering much more for the cost estimate at which the civic bodies are delivering pathetic quality classrooms. Manoj Tiwari should answer why his own party’s SDMC has estimated the same figure as Delhi government for lower quality of infrastructure. The fact is that the actual costs are working out much lower than the estimates... the BJP’s municipal corporation is the one that is corrupt,” Mr. Sisodia said while addressing a press conference.
States resolution
On Monday, the BJP had accused the AAP government, CM Arvind Kejriwal and Mr. Sisodia of partaking in financial “bungling” to the tune of ₹2,000 crore. Based on a reply to an RTI query, filed by BJP Delhi spokesperson Harish Khurana, the BJP alleged that a single classroom constructed by the Delhi government had cost around ₹24.85 lakh.
On Tuesday, Mr. Sisodia said, “We are in possession of a resolution of the SDMC’s Standing Committee that states that last year, the SDMC had prepared an estimate for building 43 rooms at a cost of ₹10.7 crore which comes to ₹24.95 lakh per classroom. But unlike the Delhi government’s project for construction, the civic body’s estimate did not include rainwater harvesting systems, furniture, ceiling, fans, lights.”
He said that when the BJP’s civic body’s estimates ₹25 lakh per classroom as the construction cost, that is not corruption, but when Delhi government estimates ₹25 lakh per classroom, including facilities like furniture, fire safety equipment, electrical appliances, desks, corridors, staircases for 13,000 classrooms, that counts as corruption? It is actually the BJP that’s indulging in corruption.
AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj challenged Mr. Tiwari to visit a Delhi government school and a corporation school and check the quality of the institutions.
BJP hits back
Vijender Gupta, BJP MLA and Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, said, “The municipal corporation has given contract only for ₹5.2 crore that is ₹12 lakh per room. This is half of the Delhi government’s cost. This implies that the civic body would be constructing a two-storey building from foundation and provide earthquake-resistant technology, structural stability, rainwater harvesting, sewage and drainage, boundary wall etc. at a much lesser cost of ₹12.86 lakh per room.”
He said that the Delhi government’s classrooms are built with “redstone slabs and T-iron” which is the “cheapest material for construction”. “The rooms [Delhi government’s] are being built without ensuring structural stability and earthquake-resistant technology,” Mr. Gupta added.
