Committed to providing quality education, not afraid of going to jail: Manish Sisodia

New Delhi: Deputy Chief Manish Sisodia on Tuesday said he is committed to creating state-of-the-art infrastructure in government schools and will not step back even if he is sent to jail.

His remarks come in the wake of allegations by BJP's Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari, who claimed that there was a Rs 2,000-crore "scam" in the construction of classrooms in Delhi government schools.

Citing a RTI reply, Tiwari had on Monday claimed that the AAP government constructed 12,782 classrooms at a cost of Rs 2,892 crore and this could have been done by spending just Rs 800 crore. At an inspection of a government school in Mandawali in East Delhi, Sisodia, who also handles the education portfolio, said the BJP's Delhi unit was making "unfounded allegations" of corruption against the AAP government.

He explained that Rs 2,892 crore included the cost of constructing of state-of-the-art classrooms, computer labs, laboratories, staircases, music rooms, libraries, corridors, playgrounds, swimming pools, toilets, water and electricity supply systems, waste water treatment systems among others.

"The BJP doesn't want that the kids of the poor people, who have migrated to the national capital from states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in search of livelihood, to get quality education... due to the fear that these students will start questioning them on the state of education in these states," he said.

He said he was happy that his government was creating modern infrastructure to provide quality education to the children and the results prove it. "Delhi has a pass percentage of 95 per cent, no other state boasts of such an achievement. "We will spend Rs 25 lakh per room if that fulfils our objective of providing quality education to poor students. I am committed to it... even if somebody wants to send me to jail, I am not going to step back," he said.

He also claimed that "the Standing Committee of the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation recently came out with a proposal to construct 43 rooms in a school at a cost of Rs 10.73 crore, which means Rs 24.95 lakh per room". "And, this estimate doesn't include the cost of furniture, electricity fittings, water harvesting systems, sewage treatment plant, corridors, lab equipment etc.

This means it is not the AAP but the BJP which is indulging in corruption," he claimed. During the inspection, Ishika, a Class 12 student, had earlier said, girl students would bring mats to sit as there were no chairs and desks but "all of that has changed now".

A teacher said the staff would un-install fans and tubelights before summer vacations and re-install the after the classes reassembled. "We have got a boundary wall now and as a result, incidents of theft have come down. We would bring water bottles from home as there was no clean drinking water in schools. Now, we have revers osmosis systems installed on every floor," she said.