Chandigarh, May 28
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) welcomed the notice issued by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes to the Punjab government on non-issuance of roll numbers to the Dalit students, studying under the Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme in the state. In a joint statement issued on Friday, senior leader and Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Saravjit Kaur Manuke and MLA and Youth Wing president Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said that the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government had embezzled crores of rupees of the Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme of the Dalit students, due to which 10th pass Dalit students were facing difficulties in pursuing their next classes.
The leaders said that for the last several years, the Captain government had not given crores of rupees of Post-Matric Scholarships of Dalit students to private colleges and other institutions, due to which these educational institutions had withheld the roll numbers of the examinations of Dalit students and were holding in their possession the educational and other certificates of the students. “Due to withholding of roll numbers of examinations by the educational institutes, the students could not submit their papers; hence these students were forced to stage dharnas to get their roll numbers,” they added.
The AAP leaders further said that a private college in Barnala district was forcing the students to submit their fees without giving roll numbers, against which the students were protesting. They said that the National Commission has issued a notice to the Punjab Government keeping in view the future of the students. Saravjit Kaur Manuke said that the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government was ruining the future of the Dalit students in the state, while the ministers of the government were enjoying scholarships of Dalit students. She said that despite the exposure of the scholarship scam, Captain Amarinder Singh had not taken any action against the Cabinet Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and the officials responsible for the scam.
Meet Hayer said that the Aam Aadmi Party had started a struggle against Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot for tampering with the future of Dalit students and had staged dharnas all over the state including the minister’s residence. “But due to Captain Amarinder Singh’s failure to take any action against those involved in the scholarship scam and non-issuance of scholarships to schools, colleges and other educational institutions, the Dalit students are still struggling,” he added. Hayer accused Captain Amarinder Singh of pretending to be sympathetic to the Dalit people of the state, when the reality was that the lives of Dalit students were being ruined. The AAP leaders demanded that Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, the minister involved in the scholarship scam, be sacked from the government and the scholarship money be released to educational institutions.
