December 4, 2020 9:55:46 am
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
From free tablets for seniors, a 3 percent increase in the low allowance (DA) for state government employees starting next month to a cheaper RT-PCR test, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced Thursday a large number of sops.
To fill the digital divide in an era of online classes, tablets will be distributed to upper secondary students in schools and madrasas, he said, adding that the measure will benefit 9.5 lakh students.
The cost of an RT-PCR test for Covid-19 has been reduced to Rs 950 from Rs 1250. In early October, the price of the test kit was drastically reduced from Rs 2,250. Lately, the state has been registering 3,000 to 35,000 positive Covid cases a day.
The decision acquires importance as the state heads to the Assembly elections in April-May next year.
“In these times of Covid, many students have not attended online classes because they cannot afford computers. They don’t have a mobile either. So we have decided to give tablets to all high school students and madrasas. Students of 9.5 lakh total will benefit under this scheme. We have almost 14,000 upper secondary schools and 636 madrasas, ”Banerjee said during a meeting with the West Bengal State Government Employees Federation, a branch of TMC, at the state secretariat of ‘Nabanna’.
Although he did not specify the timetable in which the tablets will be distributed, he said the government “will try to deliver these tablets as soon as possible” after the floating tenders.
At the meeting, Banerjee also asked Education Minister Partha Chatterjee to verify whether tablets can also be given to students in other classes. She said a committee with members from education departments may consider expanding the scheme.
In a 3 percent increase in DA, the prime minister reiterated that the central government owes Rs 85,000 crore in installments, including Rs 8,000 core in GST collections, to the state. Despite this, he said his government is paying full salary to state government employees. “Despite financial constraints, we have complied with the recommendations of all previous pay commissions. We will also provide a 3 percent increase in DA from January 2021, ”he said. State Interior Minister Harikrishna Dwivedi said the move will cost the state treasury 2.2 billion rupees.
“The Center has yet to settle more than 85 billion rupees, but that will not stop us from giving our people their quotas,” he said.
Noting that employees of central government organizations and companies are currently “insecure” amid conversations about the privatization of institutions, the CM said its dispensation has never fired anyone and instead increased the salaries of the staff even in the midst of the pandemic.
“Employees of the railways, Coal India, SAIL and Air India currently do not feel very safe as these institutions could be closed at any time. Even artillery factories are not immune … ”he said.
The situation in the country is such that “the peasants are agitating in the streets, while the workers have lost their voice,” said Banerjee.
“I have spent more than Rs 33 million (from the state treasury) on the railways to pay the fares for hapless migrant workers, but the central government did nothing to help them return home from their places of work during the shutdown induced by Covid-19, “she said.
The CM also claimed that the Center has not handed over to the state its fees for Amphan relief and Covid-19 care.
“They are talking about corruption, even when they raised a lot of money under the PM Cares initiative but did not distribute anything,” he added. WITH PTI INPUTS
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