Rohit Arya, who was killed by the police in Powai on Thursday ending a hostage crisis, had a long and complicated association with the Maharashtra government. What began in 2022 as a collaboration with the state School Education Department to promote cleanliness through his “Swachhata Monitor” initiative gradually spiralled into a bitter dispute over unpaid funds, allegations of corruption, and a series of protests that marked Arya’s final days before he was shot by the police in a Powai acting studio, where he was holding 17 children hostage.A banker-turned-social entrepreneur and filmmaker, Arya, who originally hailed from Pune, launched Project Let’s Change in October 2013 “to establish necessity for a change in way things are done or are perceived,” as mentioned on his website. The initiative began with the making of a film titled ‘Let’s Change’, written and directed by Arya, inspired by the campaign ‘Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti Se Sardar Patel Jayanti Tak’ in 2013. The film was later screened in schools across Maharashtra and Gujarat to motivate students to take up cleanliness drives with actionable plans.As part of the project, he had launched the concept of Swachhata Monitor, an initiative appointing schoolchildren as cleanliness ambassadors for their schools and neighbourhoods. Activities under the programme included spotting and discouraging acts such as littering and spitting, and documenting such incidents on video to raise awareness.According to Arya’s official website, the concept had “two benefits: children were made proactive to take action and adults were more likely to listen to children ensuring greater results toward achieving cleanliness by creating a community of monitors, as opposed to conventional cleanliness campaigns involving individualised and limited activities.”Collaboration with the stateIn September 2022, Arya approached the School Education Department with the Swachhata Monitor concept. He was granted permission to implement it in select schools, on the condition that he would raise funds through CSR or other means. Arya ran the project in 2022 at his own expense before submitting a fresh proposal in 2023 to expand its scope.Must Read | Rohit Arya’s cafe in Pune shut down in few months, neighbouring shopkeepers shockedThe government approved the proposal through a Government Resolution (GR) dated June 30, 2023, and disbursed Rs 9.9 lakh to Arya’s company.Phase I of Swachhata Monitor, conducted between July and October 2023, reportedly involved 64,000 schools and over 59 lakh students. The programme included screenings of the ‘Let’s Change’ film and workshops for students and teachers on effectively implementing cleanliness activities.Merger with a larger state programmeStory continues below this adAccording to another GR dated January 25, 2024, Swachhata Monitor was later merged with the state’s broader school beautification initiative, Mazi Shala Sundar Shala (My School, Beautiful School), a competition encouraging schools to improve their campuses through cleanliness drives, gardens, and other beautification measures.The GR stated that Swachhata Monitor (Phase II) would form one of the parameters used to evaluate schools under Mazi Shala Sundar Shala. It also earmarked Rs 20.63 crore for the larger programme and Rs 2 crore within that for Swachhata Monitor (Phase II). Arya was named Project Director for the second phase, continuing his role from Phase I.Funding dispute and falloutThe fallout between Arya and the department began soon after. Arya alleged that the government never released the Rs 2 crore promised for Phase II. However, the department, in a statement issued Thursday, said the funds were withheld due to an “unacceptable proposal” from Arya regarding implementation plans.“The agreement involved various responsibilities on his company’s part such as conducting training workshops, holding events, showing film among others. But the invoice submitted by Arya was unacceptable as it lacked proper details on activities conducted under the initiative. He was asked to resubmit the proposal with complete details. Meanwhile, it was revealed that Arya had collected registration fees from schools for the Swachhata Monitor initiative, without having any approval for it from the government,” said a senior department official on condition of anonymity.Story continues below this adA clarification note issued by the School Education Department on Thursday stated that following this revelation, a letter dated August 23, 2024, from the Commissioner of Education directed that Apsara Media Entertainment Network should deposit any money collected from schools into a government account and provide a written undertaking not to collect fees in the future.“Upon completion of the two conditions Apsara Media Entertainment Network was allowed to submit a fresh proposal for implementation of Swachhata Monitor 2024-25. However, since the required information from Rohit Arya was not received, further action on the matter could not be taken,” the note stated.Arya’s claims and protestsIn interactions with local media in October 2024, Arya alleged that there had been no progress from the department on taking his initiative forward. Consequently, he began running Swachhata Monitor privately and started collecting registration fees of Rs 500 per school, which he said was necessary in the absence of government support.Arya claimed that this became another reason for the delay in fund disbursement, as the department launched an inquiry against him. He told the media that he planned to refund the collected money if the government resumed support, a statement also reflected on his initiative’s website.Story continues below this adArya’s death has now put renewed focus on the events of the past year, during which he accused the department of not only withholding dues but also “robbing” his concept and sidelining him to favour certain schools in Mazi Shala Sundar Shala awards.From August 2024, Arya held multiple protests, including hunger strikes and sit-ins, outside the School Education Commissionerate in Pune and at the official residence of then School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar in Mumbai.During one such protest in October 2024, Arya told local media that Kesarkar had personally issued him a cheque of a “substantial amount” with an assurance of repayment once government funds were released.The Kesarkar funding issueKesarkar’s decision to issue a personal cheque in February 2024 has drawn attention, raising questions over why a minister would personally assist a private contractor awaiting official dues.Story continues below this adKesarkar, however, said that it was out of compassion. “He was in a difficult situation financially so I helped him out of compassion. But to receive government funding for his project, he had to comply with all the requirements. He was unable to understand the fact that just because Rs 2 crore budgetary allocation is made for the project; it will not be just handed out. He had to submit all the invoices, vouchers and required documents to support the expenses. I did try to resolve his issue by helping him understand the process too. But then it was revealed that he charged fees to schools on his own, which was inappropriate,” said Kesarkar, who further added that his eventual act of holding children hostage was completely unacceptable as children’s safety is of utmost importance.In an interview with a Pune-based media outlet in October 2024, Arya had also alleged irregularities and favouritism in the Mazi Shala Sundar Shala awards.“When I started taking objection to these activities, they started to target me. When I objected to the discrepancies in implementation of Swachhata Monitor under Mazi Shala Sundar Shala initiative to favour certain schools to win prizes, the department started to sideline me and the delay in fund allocation began,” Arya alleged.Wider questions over school initiativesArya’s death has put a question mark on how extracurricular programmes are handled in schools across Maharashtra. “At this moment there are at least 6-7 such extra-curricular initiatives being conducted in schools,” said a teacher. Some of these include Mission Life Eco Club, Vikasit Bharat Buildothon, Veer Gatha 5.0, and Ek Ped Ma Ke Naam.Story continues below this adThe teacher said, “There is no way of knowing if all of them have a private agency attached to it, just like Arya’s. These agreements are not always public knowledge as it is essentially a government-run project.”According to educators, it is common practice for independent organisations to propose concepts to the government, which are then expanded statewide.A senior department official clarified that not all such initiatives rely on private entities. “No private agency can ensure a large-scale implementation of any project, without government support. Sometimes concepts are introduced by private agencies, but the state assures implementation with a network of schools.”Teachers’ associations across Maharashtra have consistently opposed the proliferation of such initiatives, citing the growing non-academic workload.Story continues below this ad“The opposition essentially has been due to increasing non-academic task burdens on teachers. But Arya’s death has definitely opened a different side of the issue of the long list of extra-curricular initiatives being burdened on schools across state, despite complaints raised by many of unnecessary overload of such campaigns,” said another teacher.