Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Sep 30 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Amabadas Danve on Monday accused the Maharashtra government of not providing school uniforms to 45 lakh eligible students despite the deadline for it passing.
Under the Eknath Shinde government’s ‘One State One Uniform’ policy, some 45 lakh students from Classes I to VIII in Zilla Parishad schools were to get uniforms by August 15 this year.
In a post on X, the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council said only 24 lakh students have been given school uniforms so far and these too “were bogus”.
Uploading a photograph of a student with a poorly stitched government-provided uniform, he said wasn’t this making fun of students.
Slamming state school education minister Deepak Kesarkar, the LoP said “students should study in the laboratory but the students themselves have now become a laboratory”.
“Even the uniforms of students have not escaped the corruption of the government,” he alleged.
Addressing a press conference in Pune, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar said the quality of material and stitching were sub-standard.
Pawar said he had mentioned in the assembly that the contract for the uniforms was given centrally to benefit a textile firm from Gujarat and earn kickbacks.
Speaking on the issue, minister Kesarkar said one pair is stitched by local women while the other is being done by the Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal (MAVIM).
“Around 20,000 women are stitching the uniforms. If a uniform is not stitched properly, then it should be re-stitched. We will provide the cloth. Good quality fabric is being used. Since uniforms are being stitched for the first time in such a large quantity, some delays are taking place,” the minister claimed. PTI AW SPK BNM
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