NEW DELHI: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), has decided to introduce English as the medium of instruction in one school in each of its 267 wards. These schools will be called Pratibha Nigam Vidyalaya.

"A number of middle and lower-middle class parents are finding it difficult to send their children to public schools due to their higher fees. We want to provide an alternative system of education that is at par with public schools. The MCD will also provide free mid-day meal, uniform and textbooks to the children in such schools,'' said Prithvi Raj Sawhney, chairman of the education committee of the MCD.

A proposal in this regard will be tabled in the standing committee meeting of the MCD which will take place on Wednesday.

The civic agency imparts primary education to 9.5 lakh students through its 1,746 schools. "One school has been chosen in each ward after consultations with deputy education officers (DEOs) and area councillors, keeping in mind factors like the student strength, infrastructure and number of teachers. A total of 40 students will be enrolled in such schools in Class I through draw of lots.''

Beginning next year, this process will be initiated in one batch in a chosen school in each ward of MCD and if everything works out, according to Sawhney, MCD will try to introduce English as a medium of instruction across all schools.

The civic agency has also decided to train the teachers and equip its existing staff in teaching through English medium. The civic body will soon begin a special training programme for its teachers to enable them to teach in English. "We have enough teachers and many of them are already equipped to impart education in English,'' added Sawhney.

MUMBAI: Demanding an investigation into the BMC's plans to construct seven underground multi-level parking lots in south Mumbai, the civic standing committee on Tuesday held back the Rs 444-crore plan on Tuesday.

Members of the committee, while unanimously agreeing that these facilities- two at Crawford Market, two at Hutatma Chowk and the rest near Eros Cinema, Regal Cinema and Jehangir Art Gallery-will double the existing parking capacity to 1,400 from 700 now, raised doubts over the civic tendering process. They also demanded a presentation on all the seven facilities before proceeding further on the issue.

Corporator Vinod Shekhar accused the BMC of bending guidelines to favour a certain section of contractors.

On Monday, officials had received an anonymous letter alleging that a consortium represented by the relative of a top Sena leader was being favoured during the tender exercise. "Offering a firm Rs 444 crore to develop and maintain these lots-along with the right to pocket revenue from them for 30 years-somehow does not make sense," said Shekhar.

The BMC had chosen a consortium of Venue Infrastructure Ltd and German Wohr Parking Systems for the project. While the company will get to pocket revenue for 30 years, the BMC explained that it was not feasible for it to run the parking lots on its own. Additional municipal commissioner Anil Diggikar claimed the tendering process was fair and the civic body will look into all allegations.