Four
months after the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav began
distributing free laptops to students, it now turns out that Hewlett
Packard, the supplier, has not been paid for more than 5 lakh laptops it
has so far delivered. With a Rs 900-crore bill pending, HP has
threatened to stop further supplies till dues are settled, government
sources said.
In June 2012, the Samajwadi
Party government had announced a budget of Rs 2,721.24 crore for
distributing tablets and laptops tomeritorious students of classes X and
XII. Of this, while Rs 400 crore was earmarked for tablets, the
remaining was to be spent on laptops.
But
funds got entangled in red tape and only Rs 312 crore was released into
the accounts of district magistrates, who, in turn, are responsible for
releasing funds to HP representatives in districts. Even this amount,
though, has not been paid in full. "There is no clarity on why there is a
in the release of funds. The government has already allocated the
funds.that is needed is an order for its release," a senior government
functionary said.
So far, UP has taken
delivery of 5,19,600 laptops, running up a total bill of Rs 998.41
crore, according to senior government sources. According to the contract
inked with HP, the government is liable to pay 90% of the total cost at
the time the laptops are delivered. This amount touches Rs 900 crore.
In
addition, while 5% will be paid after the company finishes conducting
the training and demonstration to teachers and students at tehsil or
school levels, the final 5%, the contract mandates, must be settled
after a one-year maintenance period.
Of these,
79,491 have been distributed to beneficiaries. HP has also created an
additional inventory of 1,41,866 laptops that can be made available to
the state government immediately once a purchase order is issued. Though
the complete distribution pattern of the computing gadgets had to
follow a seven-month delivery schedule, HP has met the delivery targets
of ahead of time.
In fact, with the rate of
delivery far exceeding the rate at which the gadgets are being
distributed, the company has also raised concerns about the availability
of storage space for the laptops.
When
contacted, HP officials confirmed delivery of more than 5 lakh laptops.
They, however, refused to comment on pending payments.
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