Date:22/07/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/07/22/stories/2006072224370400.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Termites nibble at textbooks in godowns

Y. Mallikarjun

Thousands of undistributed books gathering dust across the State

HYDERABAD: Even as lakhs of students have been waiting for nationalised textbooks, termites and rodents have nibbled at thousands of them, which have remained undistributed in godowns across the State during the past few years.

Thanks to apathy of the Government Textbook Press and Education Department officials, the wasteful expenditure on account of lakhs of books lying idle in godowns in several districts and the city is Rs.9.5 crores, a recent investigation by Vigilance and Enforcement sleuths revealed.

Official sources told The Hindu that the probe into `indiscriminate printing, storage and distribution of textbooks', had brought out some interesting facts-- 6,157 Oriya books were sent by the press to the sales depot in West Godavari district without any indent from the District Educational Officer.

The Nellore DEO placed an indent for 9,126 Tamil, 2,202 Urdu and 725 Hindi textbooks between 1994 and 2000 although these languages were not taught there. A whopping 7.4 lakh books were indented in excess of the requirement in Krishna district. In many instances tens of thousands of books were obsolete following changes in the syllabi. Among the 12 districts apart from the city, where investigations were conducted, the highest loss of Rs.2.7 crores was detected in Warangal. This was followed by Rs.1.8 crores in Nizamabad, Rs.1.76 crores in Khammam and Rs.1.01 crores in the twin cities.

Excess indents

The other instances of negligence include 57,788 textbooks worth Rs.4.41 lakhs remaining undistributed in Guntur, many in Hindi, though there are no Hindi-medium schools in the district. At many places DEOs violated orders in issuing the notification and allotting tender to contractors for transportation of textbooks during 2005-06. No proper records of receipts and issuance were maintained by MEOs. Normally by November every year the School Education Director places the demand through the press. Of 232 types of books, 22 are printed by the press and rest by private agencies.

The Vigilance Department recommended to the School Education Secretary to make realistic projections as it was found that indents at many places were placed irrationally and in excess of the need. It suggested books be properly stored, mandatory inspections done and a committee set up to look into the entire system.