NEW DELHI: The AAP on Wednesday said that the BJP-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) was shamefully "selling" public schools under its control.
"There are schools with only 30-40 kids left, so the BJP-ruled MCD merged 36 government schools to empty the buildings, and released tenders for 14 schools. These buildings will be sold to private coaching centres and institutes, and will be leased out as prime land for many years, which the BJP will benefit from it," said AAP MLA & spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj.
The plots in question are at Narela Zone, City Zone, Sadar Paharganj Zone, Civil Lines Zone, and Karol Bagh Zone. This lease will extend for 15-20 years, and even if a new government comes in then, it will not be able to take away the land from private coaching institutes.
Bhardwaj said that MCD claims they don't have enough land for Mohalla Clinics, but are selling school buildings to private players without thinking twice. "There's theft everywhere (in MCD). The education quality, state of buildings, and system of distributing uniforms, books and midday meals... is terrible. As a result, students studying in MCD schools have reduced from three lakh to 2,30,000," added Bhardwaj.
However, Delhi BJP said that the civic body is not selling or leasing out any of its properties. "NDMC is not leasing or selling any of its schools to private coaching centres. It has tens of empty school buildings as certain areas especially in City Zone have gone commercial with very little population left, thus rendering schools useless," said Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor.