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Punjab guv writes to CM, seeks report on scholarship for SC students
Purohit sent a letter to the chief minister after the National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC) said that around two-lakh students dropped out of college due to non-payment of dues under a scholarship scheme. “If it is correct, it would be a most reprehensible violation of constitutional rights of SC students and grave injustice to them,” the governor wrote
Chandigarh : Taking cognisance of reports about more than two-lakh students from the Scheduled Caste (SC) category dropping out of college due to non-payment of scholarships by the state government, Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit on Thursday sought a comprehensive report from chief minister Bhagwant Mann on the matter at the earliest.
Purohit sent a letter to the chief minister after the National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC) said that around two-lakh students dropped out of college due to non-payment of dues under a scholarship scheme. “If it is correct, it would be a most reprehensible violation of constitutional rights of SC students and grave injustice to them,” the governor wrote.
The NCSC had on Wednesday sought an explanation from the Punjab government about the non-payment of dues worth ₹2,000 crore to colleges despite the release of funds by the central government.
NCSC chairman Vijay Sampla said there were many complaints from SC students that they were not being allowed in colleges as the government had not paid their fee. “There were around three-lakh SC students who benefited from the scheme in 2017 and the number dropped to 1-1.25 lakh in 2020. When we asked the state government, they said these children dropped out,” he said.
Last week, Mann had ordered a comprehensive probe into the alleged irregularities in the post-matric scholarship scheme that surfaced during the previous Congress government in the state.
