People with Disabilities of Nagaland demands swift justice
DIMAPUR, MAY 18 (MExN): The Nagaland Vigilance Commission have established prime facie case against six (6) persons in the case of alleged misappropriation of Inclusive Education for the Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS) fund amounting to Rs 12,79,50,000/- under the School Education Department for the period 2011 -12 and 2012-13. This was revealed in a reply to an RTI filed by Diethono Nakhro, disability rights activist and member, National Committee on Rights of Persons with Disability (NCRPD) on the investigation carried out by the Vigilance Commission on the aforementioned case.
According to the RTI reply given by the Commission through the Senior Superintendent of Police & PIO, Anti-Corruption Wing, Kohima, investigation established prime facie case against 6 persons which include 4 Nagaland government officials, 1 ex-Minister and 1 contractor (who happens to be the son of the former Minister) for misappropriation of Rs 5.16 crore IEDSS scheme money meant for disabled students.
During investigation, an amount of 40, 77,650/- (Rupees forty lakhs seventy seven thousand six hundred fifty) IEDSS scheme money was recovered from different officials. The case has been charge sheeted in December 2017 and is now under trial in the court of Special Judge, Vigilance Commission, the RTI reply, a copy of which was made available to the media, revealed.
The investigation carried out by the Commission revealed that out of 4047 disabled students shown by the department as beneficiaries, only 1430 disabled students were genuine and the rest were bogus.
Out of 391 Special Education Teachers (SET) shown appointed by the department, only 360 were genuine teachers, 19 were bogus and 12 had resigned. Salaries were released for all 391 teachers.
While 212 Helpers were shown appointed, only 63 were genuine and salary for the rest 169 helpers was misappropriated or misused. Out of 60 Resource Rooms, only 6 (six) sub-standard Resource Rooms were constructed and fund for the rest 54 rooms was misappropriated.
Out of 4047 disabled students listed as beneficiaries, only 68 received stipend/allowances but not in full and fund for the rest of the beneficiaries was misappropriated. Equipments and materials were not procured in full but were shown as procured and issued to all the districts and schools and fund was misappropriated.
Further, money was not paid in full to the District Education Officers for conduct of various programmes in the districts, the RTI reply revealed.
The petitioner, Nakhro, in a press released has termed this as a classic case of unscrupulous individuals colluding to deprive the most marginalised and disadvantaged sections of society.
Now that the investigation is completed and culpability has been established, it is the demand of People with Disabilities of Nagaland that the case is swiftly dealt with and exemplary convictions handed out to those responsible to serve as deterrent to future similar crimes, the disability rights activist stated in the press release.
It also expected the government to lay out a plan to fully recover the stolen funds from the culprits. Further, as recommended by the Vigilance Commission, the School Education Department must implement the IEDSS scheme of the mentioned period in full, it added.
Children with Disabilities cannot be deprived and marginalised further because of the unprincipled actions of the corrupt, the press release said.
