UP: Free textbooks found in scrap dealer's truck, government orders probe

LAKHIMPUR KHERI: A video showing textbooks, meant for free distribution among government school students, being loaded into a scrap dealer's truck in Pallia town here made rounds on social media, prompting officials to order a probe on Wednesday.

The Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Pravin Kumar Tiwari said a four-member team would make a thorough probe as to how the scrap dealer got the books. In the video, which surfaced on social media on Tuesday, a scrap dealer's truck in Pallia town was shown carrying a bundle of free textbooks allegedly meant to be distributed among the government school students.

Also Read | UP NMMS Scholarship 2023: Registration begins today; exam on November 5

Tiwari said that the team of block education officer (BEO) district headquarters Bhagwant Rao, BEO Lakhimpur Subhash Chandra, BEO Dhaurahra Ashish Kumar Pandey and district coordinator Pushpendra Srivastava would submit their report within 10 days. Further action would be taken after an inquiry by the probe team, he added. Meanwhile, Pallia BEO Nagendra Chaudhary lodged an FIR over the viral video late on Tuesday night alleging that the video had tainted the image of the basic education department, administration and the government. While urging the police to investigate the matter, the BEO stated a mobile number to be the source from where he received the video, police said. The mobile number happened to be of a local reporter. The mentioning of the reporter’s number in the FIR irked local journalists. On Wednesday, the journalists called on Kheri DM Mahendra Bahadur Singh, and SP Ganesh Prasad Saha and objected to the FIR.