Sukhbir Badal asks Cong mps not to shed crocodile tears on issue of SC scholarship scheme
Sukhbir Badal asks Cong mps not to shed crocodile tears on issue of SC scholarship scheme
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today asked Punjab Congress mps and particularly Pradesh Congress president Sunil Jakhar not to shed crocodile tears to create photo ops outside parliament and instead ask their government in Punjab to release the entire grant received from the centre for dalit students besides submitting utilization certificates as well as audit report to avail of more funds under the post matric scholarship scheme.
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Sukhbir Badal asks Cong mps not to shed crocodile tears on issue of SC scholarship scheme[/caption]
In a statement here, the SAD president said it was shocking that Congress mps were indulging in cheap placard politics outside parliament on a sensitive issue like the post matric scholarship scheme for scheduled caste students when it was their government which had denied this benefit to dalit students for one and a half years. “Recently after sustained protests by the SAD some money was released to students but the government is yet to clear more than Rs 100 crore dues besides releasing Rs 527 crore on its behalf for the 2017-18 academic session. The latter amount of Rs 527 crore is due because the UPA government under Dr Manmohan Singh formed a policy in 2007 whereby the burden of the scholarship scheme was to be transferred to the State government from April 2017”.
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Sukhbir Badal asks Cong mps not to shed crocodile tears on issue of SC scholarship scheme[/caption]
Mr Sukhbir Badal said it would be better if Pradesh Congress president Sunil Jakhar shifted the venue of his “protest” to chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh and finance minister Manpreet Badal’s residences in Chandigarh. “The fault lies in your government but you are indulging in cheap politics to befool the people. During the tenure of the Congress government the State has witnessed a massive drop in enrollment of dalit students in the post-matric scholarship scheme. From more than three lakh students availing this scheme during SAD-BJP tenure, the enrolment has come down to two lakh students now. Even these students are being harassed and forced to submit scholarship amounts to private colleges on their own because the government has failed to disburse the same timely”.
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Asking Congress mps to protest against the real culprits who had denied the gift of study to SC students, Mr Badal asked why Sunil Jakhar was not demanding an inquiry to punish those who diverted central funds received from the centre for SC students. He also demanded the mps should ask the Social Welfare minister why he had failed to submit utilization certificates for the funds received from the centre and why the audit report of the entire scheme had not been submitted to the centre. “The FM promised the audit report would be submitted by August 2017. Why Jakhar is not demanding action against Manpreet Badal for failing to perform his duty which had spoiled the future of one lakh dalit students”.
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Sukhbir Badal asks Cong mps not to shed crocodile tears on issue of SC scholarship scheme[/caption]
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Asking the Congress mps to explain with which face they were talking about dalit welfare, Mr Sukhbir Badal said as much as Rs 1200 crore was due to the under-privileged on account of the Shagun scheme. He said the aata-daal scheme was not being implemented even as there was a huge backlog in case of old age pensions. “School girls are not getting bicycles as was being done under SAD-BJP tenure. Meritorious schools which provided quality education to the under-privileged are on the verge of closure. Despite all this Congress mps have the temerity to hold sham protests outside parliament instead of asking their government to shun its anti-dalit stance and work for their welfare”, he added.
-PTC NEWS
