Congress' Debabrata Saikia Flays Sonowal Government for Breaking Sarva Siksha Abhiyan Guidelines

Guwahati, October 11, 2019:

Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, Debabrata Saikia on Friday wrote to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal alleging that the Social Welfare department has contravened guidelines of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) FMP guideline.

As per Saikia, he observed that there is a whiff of kickbacks in the policy adopted by the state's Social Welfare and Education Departments for the procurement of uniforms, shoes, schoolbags etc.

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Saikia called for the scrapping of the ongoing procurement process, initiation of a fresh process on a decentralized basis and an investigation to ascertain culpability for the dubious policy.

He said that since items meant for school children are supplied to the Anganwadi centers, therefore Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) FMP guidelines should be followed by the Social Welfare Department as well for the sake of transparency.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, the Debabrata Saikia pointed out that both the departments have stipulated absurd and exaggerated criteria of solvency and experience with the intention of depriving local traders, including tailors and cloth merchants and facilitating centralized procurement.

Both the departments have contravened guidelines mentioned in the SSA Financial Management and Procurement (FMP) Manual of the Government of India regarding the procurement of such items, Saikia stated in the letter. The FMP Manual stipulates criteria for procurement of such items up to the amount of Rs. 30 lakh which are easy to fulfill by sellers/suppliers registered on the GeM portal.

Pointing out that there are less than 100 students in most schools and Anganwadi centers of Assam and hence the cost of supplying uniforms etc. would only be around Rs.1, 0000 per unit, Saikia questioned as to why both the departments have ignored the SSA FMP guidelines and opted for centralized procurement.

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