YSR Congress party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy might have lost power to the Telugu Desam Party in the recent assembly elections, but his schemes will continue to benefit various sections of people.
One such scheme is Jagananna Vidya Kanuka, under which the government school students were being distributed school kits, comprising a school bag, a pair of shoes, books and other stationery items besides school uniforms. However, every item in the kit had the picture of Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Now that the TDP government led by N Chandrababu Naidu was formed on Wednesday, the officials were under confusion as to whether they can distribute these kits to the students because they have the pictures of Jagan.
But as the schools reopened on Thursday itself, the school department authorities had no time to dump these kits which were already procured at a cost of Rs 600 crore and get new kits with Naidu’s picture. If it is done, it would be a colossal waste of money.
When they brought it to the notice of Naidu, he told them not to waste money by procuring the kits again.
He asked them to distribute the kits to government schoolchildren, even if they have the photographs of Jagan Mohan Reddy printed on them. He asked them to rename the scheme as “Student Kit” instead of Jagananna Vidya Kanuka.
Naidu, however, asked the authorities to conduct a probe into the procurement of the school kits, as there were reports that the Jagan government had placed orders for Rs.600 core without calling for tenders for the kits.
Naidu also gave a go-ahead for the release of results of entrance examinations without waiting for the new government to be formed and the minister concerned appointed.
“We should not keep students and their parents in anxiety,” he told the education department authorities.
The authorities, however, removed the pictures of Jagan on milk sachets, chikki packets, eggs and other nutrition kits to be distributed among the kids in Anganwadi centres and government schools. Instead of Jagan’s picture, they printed only the state government emblem.