By- Chingkhei Luwang
Imphal, June 1,
Documents available with the Imphal Times revealed that huge amount of fund sanctioned for taking up various activities of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Government of Manipur, are being misappropriated.
As per the documents, Imphal Times reporter query to the concern SCERT officials for clarification from their side went in vain as they did not give direct reply on where the fund had been utilized.
A sum of Rs. 13, 50,000/- and another amount of Rs. 10, 38, 000/- ( ten lakhs thirty eight thousands) was sanctioned on March 22, 2018 for the publications of annual report and for conduct of study tours for the 9 (nine) DIET centres.
As per report, annual report for Senapati DIET centre was published recently, amidst the investigation period by Imphal Times reporter and his colleague reporter of another daily newspaper. However, there are no clues of any publications of any annual reports of the DIET centres.
Total amount sanction for both the activities is Rs. 23,88,000/-.
Interestingly the sum of Rs. 10, 38, 000/- was sanctioned for conducting study tour for the 9 (nine ) DIET centres , but amount which had be to sanctioned for Imphal East DIET centre is being halt on the ground that it has no 2nd year course. A document shown to Imphal Times reporter shows that the amount sanction for study tour of the 9 DIET centres have been sanctioned for 8 (eight) DIET centres without deducting the amount which has to be released for the Imphal East DIET centre.
As per information with the Imphal Times the share of amount that the Imphal East DIET center should get is Rs. 1.15 lakhs.
When the fund seems to be lost somewhere without having any physical proof of utilizations another sanction order has been released on March 14, 2019.
Imphal Times reporter and his colleague contacted the Joint Secretary and the Director of the SCERT but took some three/four days to meet them. First meeting was with the Joint Secretary Jim Golden Thingujam who is also the DDO, but his clarification fails to clarify on the allegations of fund misappropriation by the SCERT. Imphal Times reporter could not contact the Director of SCERT, Meenakumari, but clarified from her side on the investigation being carried out by our reporter and his team. But her clarification failed to convince that there is no fund misappropriation of fund.
Besides this two case which the Imphal Times have all the documents there are also reported cases of fund misappropriation. A reliable source said that an amount of Rs 1.5 lakh for school visit and monitoring at Imphal East DIET was never reached to Imphal East DIET Centre, Keikol.
Documents showed that the Principal of Imphal East had written to SCERT Director for release fund meant for Imphal East DIET Centre. The letter, dated on 22nd February, 2019 stated that a sum of Rs. 17, 000,00/- (seventeen lakhs) each for all the 9 (nine) DIET centres have been released by Government during the financial year 2017- 2018 and the same has been sanctioned and credited to the DDO account on March 31 2018.
Special Secretary of SCERT S. Kohli’s Larho further directed the Director to release fund in respect to Imphal East DIET centre on 1st March. But till now no fund was released to the specific centre.
Joint Secretary Jim while talking to Imphal Times reporter said that there wasn’t any misappropriation of funds. He clarified that there were some lapsed in putting up the files up regarding the annual tour. The external tour should be carried out only for the 2nd year and Imphal East DIET centre being in its initial stage doesn’t have any 2nd year in the previous year, so the amount regarding the external excursion was not disbursed to them. He added that a new sanction was ordered and they were all ready to disburse for the external excursion. Jim further clarified that the said unutilized amount will be return back to the government. This fails to convinced our reporter as the total amount sanction for the 9 (nine) DIET centres has already been sanctioned for 8 (eight) DIET centres.
His clarification regarding the publications of the annual report saying that the process for publication still is underway as many DIET Centres still are yet to submit their report as it can be published anytime do not suggest any logical explanation
The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Government of Manipur, was established by amalgamating the erstwhile State Institute of Education (S.I.E.) and State Institute of Educational Technology (SIET) and some other units from the Directorate of School Education in the month of February, 1989. The SCERT has since then been working for upliftment of the quality of education in the elementary stage of education as well as for achieving the goal of Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE).
