Mohali AAP MLA Kulwant Singh questions delay in releasing scholarship funds

On the second day of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha session, AAP MLA Kulwant Singh today questioned his own government over the delay in releasing Rs 438 crore state share under the SC post-matric scholarship scheme for the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24. The scheme is funded by the Centre and the state government in 60:40 ratio. The amount to be paid by the Centre for the said two years is Rs 659 crore, taking the total pending amount to Rs 1,097 crore.

Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Dr Baljit Kaur said the state government was doing its best to clear the dues under the scheme. For 2024-25, nearly 2.60 lakh students had been enrolled.

She said the delay in disbursement of the scholarship amount for 2022-23 and 2023-24 was due to issues related to linking of Aadhaar cards of around 37,500 students for the two fiscal years. During 2017-20, the state had released Rs 366 crore for the students enrolled with various private educational institutions, she added.