NGO's role in handling Velugu scheme comes under cloud

HYDERABAD: The role of a well-known nongovernmental organisation—M V Foundation (MVF)—in the implementation of residential bridge courses (RBC) to enrol child labourers in schools under the Velugu programme has come under a cloud.
According to sources, a senior official of the Velugu project handled by Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) inspected the RBC camps and reported that standards of the teachers were not up to the mark.
The inspection also found that the food provided in the camps was below standard and the training provided to the students was also not adequate. The official found that the Foundation had not maintained proper accounts with no monitoring by the district collector or the education department.
The MVF is being paid Rs 6 crore per annum to implement the programme in 30 mandals. The Foundation spends Rs 24 lakh per annum in each mandal to train 150 children in RBC in addition to community mobilisation and other programmes.
Incidentally, the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) run by the education department which implements a similar programme, incurs an expenditure of Rs 12 lakh per annum to train 100 students in addition to the rental expenses for school buildings, power bills, medical facilities, utensils and other expenses. The DPEP had released Rs 2.9 crore to SERP to fund the programme implemented by MVF and a request for an additional Rs 4.97 crore is pending with DPEP.
Official sources added that the DPEP had not renewed its MoU with SERP as the latter had failed to submit accounts related to the funds sanctioned earlier.Meanwhile, the MVF project coordinator R Venkat Reddy said that the Foundation was not aware of any adverse reports on the project implementation till date.