Picture : ANI/X
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke has said the PM CARES Fund can be used to improve infrastructure in rural schools and build more than 1,000 new high-tech schools.
The national convenor of the CJP, which has launched the ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign to highlight gaps in rural school infrastructure, claimed that children of this country are crying for good roads to their schools, and benches and drinking water in their schools.
As reported by PTI, The total balance in the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund stood at Rs 8,452 crore as on March 31, 2025, up from Rs 7,173 crore a year ago, according to its latest audit report.
Use PM Cares Fund for schools! pic.twitter.com/wjqfxgf1ha
— Abhijeet Dipke (@abhijeet_dipke) August 19, 2026
Total payments made during the year 2024-25 stood at Rs 87.85 lakh, as against Rs 15.6 crore in the previous fiscal.
In a video statement on X, Dipke said, “On one hand, Rs 8,500 crore is lying unused and on the other hand we see that the children of this country are crying for a good road to school, for good benches in school and for drinking water in school. So, why are we not using this money for the schools of these children?”
“Why is this money not being used to build new schools? If we assume that the cost of building a school is approximately Rs 8 crore, a good school with all the facilities, a model school… So, if one school costs Rs 8 crore, then in Rs 8,500 crore, more than 1,000 new high-tech model schools could be built,” he said. “But this is not happening,” he added.
On his recent visits to schools in rural parts of Maharashtra, Dipke said their condition is “very bad”.
