New Delhi, October 11: Union Social Justice Minister and BJP leader from Punjab Vijay Sampla on Wednesday charged the Punjab Government of not implementing the Centre’s post-matric scholarship scheme for Scheduled Caste students and questioned its commitment to weaker sections of the society.
“The Centre has sent the money under the scheme, but the Punjab Government is not distributing it to the intended beneficiaries,” Sampla said.
He questioned Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his silence on neglect of SCs by his own party government in the state.
Sampla added that the state government is not providing the money to the colleges and universities as a result of which the eligible SC students were not able to enroll themselves for post-graduate studies.
The Centre had released Rs 115 crore in April 2017 to the state. It started playing politics and created a wedge between students and private institutions.
Also, Rs 327 crore was released in June this year but the state government has not send the mandatory “utilisation certificate” about its distribution.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clear direction is to release the remaining funds to the states under the scheme, but the Punjab Government is in clear violation of the rules, he said.
“Unless the state sends the utilisation certificate to the Centre regarding expenditure of the funds released to it, it will be legally constrained not to release the next tranche,” Sampla said.
The state government is committing a heinous crime against the SCs exposing Congress’ double standards. The party sheds crocodile tears with regard to their cause, but has only given false hopes to them all through many years of rule at the Centre.
