'Poor' quality mobile draws flak from students, MP govt red-faced

BHOPAL: The state government had to face an acute embarrassment at a public function in Chattarpur on Friday after college students refused to take smartphones they were given under a governmentrun scheme.
The beneficiaries cited inferior quality as a reason for rejecting mobile sets. Miffed over 'substandard' quality, students of the Government Maharaja PG College shouted slogans against the government and out of 1438 students, only seven came forward to receive set at the function held in college auditorium."The seven students, who accepted sets will return it to the district collector on Monday," said college students' union president Sonam Rawat, making it clear that more is to come.
It has a 2MP primary camera with 0.3 MP front camera and only 512 MB RAM. After a bidding, the phone was procured by the MP Electronics Development Corporation from a Hyderabad-based company.
Talking to TOI, Rawat said, "It is a cheating with students. Never heard of the company. Mobile set of poor make is worth Rs 1,200 and hardly functions for 2 or 3 months. Those who were given these phones last year will also return them to the collector on Monday. Many of them have not even opened the pack."
Minister of state for women and child welfare Lalita Yadav, the chief guest, tried to save the situation. Yadav said, " I will convey feelings of students to the chief minister and the higher education minister. He can even distribute 5G phones to students."