Dharmsot twisted figures to save Congress government’s skin: SAD
Dharmsot twisted figures to save Congress government’s skin: SAD Accusing Punjab social welfare minister, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot of twisting and fabricating the figures of the post matric scholarship to save the Congress government’s skin, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)dared the minister to come clean on why the state government was deliberately misusing the funds meant for providing scholarship to the SC students in the state. In a statement here, former chief parliamentary secretary and senior SAD leader Pawan Kumar Tinu said the minister Dharamsot made a false claim to befool the people that the Congress government has been released Rs.203 crore under post matric scholarship in last two years. He said the matter of fact is that the state government had released Rs.117 crore for this purpose so far. This amount too was given to the government colleges, whereas the private colleges were totally left high and dry. “The SC students were facing problems only with these private colleges which were denying admissions to them without taking the admission fees” he added. Exposing the hollow claims made by the state government on the issue of scholarship to SC students, Mr. Tinu said that replying to a question, congress government told in the Vidhan Sabha that it released amount of Rs.280 crore for the post matric scholarship in the finical year of 2016-17. It was a blatant lie as the said amount was released by the previous SAD-BJP government. “Congress government and its ministers are in a habit of twisting figures and facts to hide their wrongdoings. When they were caught, they start blaming the previous government for all their administrative misdeeds” he added. Rubbishing the minister’s claim that around Rs.1663.47 crore of the post matric scholarship money was still pending with the government of India, SAD leader said that the centre was holding back the scholarship money as the congress government failed to submit the utilization certificate to the GOI for the same. “Contrary to it, the Congress government was sitting on Rs.327 crore of the Scholarship money since last four months. First, it should disburse this money to the beneficiaries and submit unitization certificate to the Central government as well, then it should ask to the GOI for more funds” he added. The SAD leader also pointed out that the fee capping put on the colleges is proving a nightmare for the SC students. He said that there is huge difference in the fee structure of government and private colleges. For instance, for the course of B.Ed, the government colleges charge only Rs.18000 while for the same course, the private colleges charge around Rs.85000. “ The SC students cannot afford to pay the remaining amount as the government only provide funds matching with the fees structure of the government colleges” he added. So in this way, he said, the government is blocking SC students entry into private colleges which is akin to denying them education at all. Making a scathing attack on the state government for lavishly spending money on wasteful works, Mr Tinu said that the captain government does not have money for poor and underprivileged people of the state, but it has crores to purchase luxury vehicles for ministers and renovate their bungalows. “The state government would not think twice while spending Rs.200 crore for purchasing luxury cars as well as renovating bungalows for its ministers. But start playing like a bankrupt once you ask it to release funds for SC students or the poor sections of the society” he added.
