Andhra govt saved Rs 245 crore through reverse bidding for Nadu-Nedu, says Minister
VIJAYAWADA: The state education department has saved Rs 245 crore through reverse tendering for Mana Badi Nadu-Nedu, Minister for Education Audimulapu Suresh said on Tuesday. Revealing the details of the works completed so far under the programme, the minister said that the amount saved through reverse tendering can be spent on improving the school infrastructure further.
The minister said Rs 2,570 crore out of the total Rs 3,669 crore, allocated for the first phase, was spent on 15,715 schools. The money spent so far was on electrification, toilets, running water, compound walls, flooring, furniture, English labs, green chalk boards, water system, and major and minor repairs.“Works under the first phase will finish by March as only installation and delivery of products to a few schools are left,” he explained.
Suresh added all works were done in a transparent manner and the tenders were given to the lowest bidder without compromising on the quality of the materials. The items were directly procured from the manufacturers, he said.
The supply of sanitary materials and fans has been completed. The supply of 80 per cent of type one desks, 63 per cent of type two desks, 82 per cent of type three desks and 50 per cent of type four desks (for classes 9 and 10) has been completed. A total of 66 per cent of cupboards and 89 per cent of green chalk boards have been supplied to the schools.
“Around 1,500 teams from two companies have been engaged for the painting works. Once that is finished, smart TVs and green chalk boards can be fixed,” said Suresh.He said 4,15,761 more students joined the government schools than the previous year’s 38 lakh. Paper work for the second phase was completed and the works will begin in April.