New Delhi, Oct. 25 -- Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood on Saturday challenged the Aam Aadmi Party's allegations of irregularities in textbook procurement, presenting books, work orders and measuring rulers to journalists to defend the BJP government's purchase rates and specifications. Accusing AAP leaders of engaging in "hoot and shoot" politics, Sood said the government would also bring out evidence relating to several alleged scams during the previous regime, including the Rs 5,400-crore classroom project and Rs 1,000-crore COVID-related fraud.
At a press conference, Sood compared the procurement cost of Class 8 Hindi textbook 'Malhar' with books purchased during the AAP government, claiming the current government procured it for Rs 28.61 against Rs 55 paid for a textbook of the same size in 2022. He said the tender specifications prescribed dimensions of 17.1 cm x 24.1 cm and challenged journalists to measure the books themselves to verify that the prescribed size had not been reduced.
Sood also cited price comparisons across classes, claiming the highest textbook prices under the previous government had reached Rs 110 for Class 8, Rs 103 for Class 7 and Rs 133 for Class 6. Under the current government, he said, prices had been capped at Rs 50.38, Rs 75.88 and Rs 57.76, respectively.
"AAP leaders run on 'hoot and shoot' politics, tell lies, make false claims of 40% commission, and run away. They don't even know the price of a single book, yet they claim a scam," Sood said, alleging that a "60% commission business" operated during the previous regime.
The minister also released copies of letters dated August 17 and September 6, 2023, which he said were written by the then education secretary and documented concerns about the quality and printing of textbooks supplied under the AAP government.
"Their own Education Secretary was writing letters in 2023 criticising the poor printing quality of books under AAP's government," Sood said, adding that the current procurement followed laboratory quality checks. Sood said the government was examining the textbook procurement controversy and warned of strict penal action against those found responsible for deliberately misleading the public. He further announced plans to present evidence concerning five alleged irregularities from the AAP tenure: the Rs 5,400-crore classroom project, a CCTV project worth over Rs 500 crore, alleged irregularities of over Rs 500 crore in EWS admissions, a Rs 1,000-crore COVID-related fraud and an alleged cash-for-query racket involving Assembly questions.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.