Madhya Pradesh Govt Directs Probe Following School Repair Invoices Go Viral

The Madhya Pradesh government directed an investigation after paintwork invoices for two schools in Shahdol district which went viral on social media revealed suspected fake payments and inflated figures for material and labour.

The bills that were making the rounds online claim inflated quantities of materials and labor, indicating that 168 workers and 65 masons were dispatched to coat four liters of paint for one school and 275 workers and 150 masons to coat 20 liters for another.

Minister of School Education Uday Pratap Singh directed immediate action after suspected fictitious payments sanctioned in the guise of minor repairs at Sakandi Government High School and Nipaniya Higher Secondary School in Shahdol district's Beohari Assembly constituency were discovered.

The racket was exposed after millisecond-to-millisecond bills went viral on social media, highlighting what appear to be bloated entries under material and labour.

In Sakandi High School, official papers claimed that 168 labourers and 65 masons were employed to paint mere four litres. The expenditure documented -- Rs 1,06,984 -- has generated overall suspicion.

Nipaniya School accounts were no less damning: Rs 2,31,685 had been incurred as expended on the work of 275 labourers and 150 masons who reportedly worked on such contracts as pertained to mere twenty litres of paint, fitting ten windows, and four doors.

Taking dramatic action on the report, the Education Minister directed the Secretary of the School Education Department and the Commissioner of Public Instruction to hold a rapid and impartial inquiry.

He reiterated the zero-tolerance of the government towards corruption and malpractices in public departments and reaffirmed nobody caught would be excluded. Popular disillusionment and questions about the innocence of rural school infrastructure funds spending have been evoked by the revelations.

Others were left with amazement at how these overspendings were tolerated, calling for tighter processes of accountability and audit procedures with regional education authorities.

The accident has struck at a time when the Madhya Pradesh government is going all out to push transparency and investment across various sectors. The accident may be a wake-up call for introducing more stringent audit mechanisms, online transparency tools, and decentralized monitoring mechanisms with local stakeholders.