No funds for Adarsh School, teachers, students on warpath

Tribune News Service

Bhawanigarh, August 19

Teachers of Adarsh School in Sangrur’s Balad Khurd village, students, AAP leaders and members of Vidhya Bachao Sangharsh Committee today blocked the NH-7 for two hours here in protest against the FCS Foundation, which has stopped releasing funds for the school.

They threatened to lay siege to the office of the Director General, School Education (DGSE), on August 30 if the authorities failed to get the payment released from the foundation.

The state government and the foundation signed an agreement to share the expenses of five Adarsh Schools, opened in 2012. The government pumps in 70 per cent of the money, while the foundation pitches in with the rest.

The foundation stopped releasing funds in March.

Purshotam Phaguwala, convener of the committee, said: “I have restarted my fast and will continue with it till the foundation releases the funds. The state government must get a fraud case registered against the foundation.”

State AAP co-convener Aman Arora said, “Since the state government bears 70 per cent of the schools’ expenses, it must take action against the foundation. We will raise the matter in the Assembly, while our MP Bhagwant Mann will speak about it in Parliament.”

Mrigesh Shastri, CEO of the foundation, could not be contacted in spite of repeated attempts.