Two months after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav initiated
distribution of laptops to class 12 pass-outs in Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh
government has decided to resume the process by starting distribution in five
districts, including Samajwadi Party stronghold Etawah and Mainpuri. The other
three districts are Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar and Kanpur Nagar.
About 45,000 students of government and government-aided
colleges will be given these laptops in these five districts.
Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani called a review meeting for
starting distribution of laptops on Sunday. Senior officials of the Secondary
Education Department, district magistrates of the five districts and senior
officials of the Home Department were called to plan the distribution.
The district magistrates were asked to finalise the dates in
their districts and inform these to the Principal Secretary to the Chief
Minister Rakesh Garg in the next two days. Administrative and police officers
from these districts will undergo a training to oversee distribution on May 14
in Lucknow.
After reviewing the lacuna that came up in the first
distribution programme in Lucknow two months back, instructions have been given
that before distribution the beneficiaries would be given "photo-id"
cards which would have the unit code number along with the serial number of the
laptop to be given to them. Instructions have also been given to arrange for
breakfast, lunch and transportation of the beneficiaries, along with security
of the laptops before distribution.
As a special arrangement, CCTV cameras would be installed at
the site of distribution as well as at places where these laptops would be
stored in the district. For buses carrying female beneficiaries, instructions
have been given to deploy only female staff.
A senior officer said, "Students of only government and
government-aided colleges are being included in the first phase. We are
expecting 8,000-10,000 beneficiaries in each of these five districts. Along
with the probable dates, the district magistrates will also send the exact
number of beneficiaries within the next two days.
