Laptops costly,SAD prefers UP tablets

The finance department has pegged the cost of providing laptops to three lakh students in Classes XI and XII at Rs 420 crore,pricing each laptop at Rs 14,000,as provided by the Tamil Nadu government. But to curtail the outgo on this account for the new batch of Class XI students every year,the government is thinking of going the Uttar Pradesh way by giving away more useful and economical tablets,costing Rs 7,000 each.

If bought in bulk,the tablets will cost Rs 210 crore for three lakh students and laptops Rs 420 crore. The cost difference is double. It has also been seen that students find tablets more useful than laptops. Owing to the absence of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal,a decision in this regard has not been taken so far, sources in the finance department said.

The government is also yet to decide on unemployment allowance,another promise picked from Samajwadi Partys manifesto,before the budget is presented on Wednesday.

This allowance too will come with a rider only graduates sitting at home without employment are entitled to Rs 1,000 per month to increase their employability by acquiring vocational skills.

The total number of such graduates in Punjab,according to government estimates,is a mere 3,000. The economic survey puts the figure of those enrolled in employment exchanges of the state to over 3.5 lakh.

The department contends that it cannot go by the figure of employment exchanges,as youth with diplomas and vocational training too are enrolled while the manifesto spoke of only unemployed graduates. But the states fiscal health may not permit more.

While free gas connections to over nine lakh BPL families is estimated to cost Rs 1,000 per family,the cost of many other promises such as five-marla plots to landless poor and provident fund to farmers is yet to be worked out.

Meanwhile,for meeting its growing revenue expenditure,some additional resource mobilisation proposals are likely be a part of the budget to be presented by the ruling SAD-BJP combine on June 20. Though the preceding years revenue deficit was projected at Rs 3,379 crore,it had shot up to Rs 6,200 crore in the revised estimates.

No bid for Akhileshs laptop scheme,deadline extended

In a first setback to Akhilesh Yadav government,the Uttar Pradesh Electronics Corporation Limited has failed to get even a single bid for the selection of a consultant for the much-hyped scheme of free distribution of laptops and tablets to school students despite two extensions of the deadline. The government has now set a new deadline of June 20. The UPECL is the nodal agency for procurement of laptops and tablets. As a first step,the government had decided to select a consultant for the implementation of the project. The absence of response at the very first step has surprised officials. The corporation had floated an e-tender for the selection of consultant last month and fixed June 9 as the last date for submission and opening of bids. Failing to get any response,it quietly shifted the deadline to June 15,but again there was no response. The deadline was,therefore,once again shifted to June 20. Now the officials are keeping their fingers crossed. June 20 is the last date and if we do not get any bid even on this date then we might consider floating a new tender document with changes, informed a senior UP government officer.