When Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav distributed free laptops to students here on Monday, he might not have imagined that they would make their way to the market within hours and go for a song.

Sources said several students, who were given the laptops by the chief minister free of cost, tried to sell it for a dirt cheap price at a local computer market in Lucknow.
“The students were ready to sell the laptops for as low as Rs 10,000,” a shopkeeper said.

Sources said some students reached the market to sell the laptops barely a few hours of their distribution.

Many of them told shopkeepers that the laptops were not useful to them as they came from farmers’ families and intended to do farming in future.

It was not clear if the students were able to sell the
laptops.

A few shopkeepers said they refused to purchase them as they were different from the ordinary ones.

The reports caused ripples among the government officers. They warned that buying and selling of the laptops was illegal and those indulging in it will be sternly dealt with.

The officers said the students, who were given the laptops, were made to fill up forms stating that they will use them for their personal work.

“Besides, every laptop has a separate number. We can easily know from the number to whom it was given,” the officers said.

The laptops can be easily identified as poore hote vaade (fulfilling the promises) is written on them and also have tamper proof images of Akhilesh Yadav and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on the cover. The images will pop up each time the system is booted out.

On Monday, Akhilesh launched the free laptop scheme for the students, who had cleared 12th standard, at a grand function here. As many as ten thousand students from different colleges were provided laptops.

The government plans to distribute free laptops to 15 lakh students in the current year.