Clean Girl Friend campaign in DK schools from July
Mangaluru, June 22: Awareness campaign for girl students of Dakshina Kannada district about cleanliness during menstruation and waste disposal will commence from July.
This campaign will run for 10 months said Dr. M.R Ravi, chief executive officer of DK district municipal while addressing a programme jointly organised by DK district municipal, Mangaluru Swachh Bharat mission and district support division.
The campaign is aimed at girl students of 6th and 7th standard. There are 30,734 girl students studying in 1,182 government, aided and unaided schools in the district. These students will be divided into teams of 10 to 25. The total number of teams will be 1,604 to which equal number of NSS workers will provide counselling about menstruation and waste disposal, he said.
Menstruation waste management needs government support
18.55 per cent of pads and napkins that are used during menstruation are being buried under mud. 24.84 per cent waste is disposed through waste disposal vehicles. 14.03 per cent is dumped into toilets. 29.52 per cent people burn these wastes in bathroom kilns. 13.01 per cent people throw it to streams or at some other places. Though these are not the scientific ways of waste disposal, burning and burying are considered as permissible. But the incinerator that are used for burning are costly. At present 140 schools in the district have these incinerators. To install this mechanism at homes government help is needed, M.R Ravi explained.
As per 2011 census the total number of women in the district is 10,54,935. Out of them 4,76,800 women are in the age group of 11 years to 49. 3,81,440 women including students use pads or napkins. Every month over all 30,51,520 pads or napkins are used in the district.
Speaking after inaugurating the seminar, district municipal president Meenakshi Shanti God said that, girls often feel mental depression and become vulnerable to various diseases during menstruation. There is a need to create awareness among girls and bring confidence in them.
District municipal standing committee president Anitha Hemanath released the booklet Clean Friend.
District municipal member Mamatha Gatti, Manjula Mave, Shahul Hameed, Sucharita Shetty, Vinod Bollur were present on the dias.
Prameela Sekhar, Dr. Poornima Bhat, Dr. Shrinivas Bhat were present as resource persons. District Municipal vice secretary N.V Nayak proposed vote of thanks.
Certificates were given to the winners of Cleanliness slogan competition and Cleanliness lyrics writing and singing competition held as a part of the campaign.
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Prez nod for FIR against AAP's Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain in Rs 2,000-cr classroom 'scam'
New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI): President Droupadi Murmu has given her approval for the registration of an FIR against AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain in an alleged scam of Rs 2,000 crore in the construction of classrooms in Delhi government schools, sources said.
In 2022, the Delhi government's vigilance directorate recommended a probe into the alleged scam and submitted a report to the chief secretary.
The President has given her approval for registering the FIR against Sisodia and Jain in connection with the alleged scam during their tenures as ministers in the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government, the sources said.
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), in a report dated February 17, 2020, highlighted "glaring irregularities" in the construction of classrooms in Delhi government schools by the Public Works Department (PWD).
The President's approval came under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act that pertains to "enquiry or inquiry or investigation of offences relatable to recommendations made or decision taken by public servant in discharge of official functions or duties".
Reacting to the development, senior AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj accused the BJP of carrying out a witch-hunt against its political rivals.
The BJP has no interest or intention to fulfil the promises it made to the people of Delhi. Its only agenda is to carry out a witch-hunt against its political rivals to stifle the voice of people, the former minister said in a statement.
The BJP-led central government has already decided to prosecute every political adversary of the party and grant approvals to move the case forward but it should wait for the judicial process to begin, he said.
In July 2019, BJP leader Harish Khurana and then AAP rebel MLA Kapil Mishra, now a minister in the Delhi government, lodged a police complaint about the alleged scam.
According to a report prepared by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the Delhi government, the complainants alleged that there was a scam worth over Rs 2,000 crore in the construction of classrooms and school buildings in Delhi. The work was done at a highly inflated cost by the Delhi government.
The alleged scam involves the construction of around 12,748 classrooms.
The ACB report said the total expenditure incurred for constructing the classrooms and school buildings was around Rs 2,892.65 crore. They were allegedly constructed at the rate of Rs 8,800 per square feet, whereas it was common knowledge that the average construction cost (even for a builder of flats) was around Rs 1,500 per square feet.
The total cost for constructing a classroom and school building, according to the tender awarded, was allegedly around Rs 24.86 lakh per room, whereas such rooms are easily constructed in Delhi at around Rs 5 lakh per room, it said.
The prices were increased almost five times to defraud the taxpayer by siphoning off money from the public exchequer in the garb of construction cost, the report said.
Even for a 5-star hotel, top ultra-luxury quality construction is around Rs 5,000 to Rs 5,500 per square feet, it said.
The complainants submitted a copy of documents in which information received under the RTI Act in respect of the construction of 18 classrooms in the Govt Girls Senior Secondary School, Nathupura, Burari (school ID:-1207111) revealed that they were constructed at a cost of Rs 12 crore, the ACB report said.
