Release scholarship amount: SAD to Capt Amarinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 5

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today condemned the government for misappropriating funds meant for the Scheduled Caste (SC) Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme and not releasing Rs 1,549 crore to private educational institutions, which had endangered the future of two lakh SC students.

In a statement here, former minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said it was shocking that the Congress government had failed to release the scholarship money to private institutions for the past three financial years due to which there was a huge backlog. “Now, the future of SC students has been threatened with the Joint Association of Colleges stating it will withhold the roll numbers of students in protest against the non-disbursal of the scholarship to the institutions,” he said. Asking the CM to take note of the plight of SC students, Dr Cheema said the population of Dalit students, which was four lakh during the SAD tenure, had reduced drastically under Congress rule. He said the now even the future of the two lakh students who were studying in private institutions had become bleak.