Kolkata, Sep 2 (IANS) The Union Ministry of Education, on Tuesday, cautioned the West Bengal education department to complete the pending work under various projects under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), or the National Higher Education Mission (NHEM) in the state at the earliest.

The Union Minister of State for Education, Dr Sukanta Majumdar, who is also the former state president of the BJP in West Bengal, had forwarded a communique to the West Bengal education Minister, Bratya Basu, regarding the same.

Sources aware of the development said that in the letter to Basu, Majumdar had pointed out that despite the central funds for the higher education sector in West Bengal having been provided, there had not been much progress under the RUSA project in the state in the last 10 years.

As per the letter to the state education department, only a few of the 205 projects approved under RUSA since 2013 have been completed in West Bengal. According to the letter, the Union government was ready to allocate Rs 544.73 crore to West Bengal for expenditure under various projects under RUSA.

The central government has already given Rs 383.69 crore, though there has not been any significant progress in the work even after so many days, as per the contents of Majumdar’s letter to Basu.

Sources privy to the developments said that although an amount of Rs 100 crore was allotted to different state universities under RUSA for various projects, there had not been much progress in the work for these projects as well.

Even amounts of Rs 2 crore under RUSA, each to several colleges in West Bengal for the development of higher education, were not utilised properly, the sources added.

Bratya Basu, however, refused to comment on the development. “Let me first get the letter. I will be able to comment on it only after I go through its contents,” he said.

RUSA or NHEM is a centrally-sponsored scheme launched in 2013 by the Union Ministry of Education to provide strategic funding to state-run higher education institutions to improve access, equity, and excellence in the higher education system across India.

–IANS

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