Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday extended its support to the Scheduled Caste students who did a ‘gherao’ of the residence of Punjab Welfare of SC/BC Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot to protest against the Congress Government’s alleged refusal to release Rs 327 crore received from the Centre for post-matric scholarship to the SC students.
Three SAD legislators — Pawan Kumar Tinu, Dr Sukhwinder Sukhi and Baldev Khera — staged a sit in outside Dharamsot’s residence seeking an explanation regarding Rs 327 crore received for SC scholarship from the Centre more than three months back.
Holding placards, hundreds of SC students staged a dharna outside the Congress minister’s residence and later in front of the ministerial complex to demand not only immediate release of the central grant but also State assistance of Rs 68 crore as per the scheme.
The students, raising slogans against the Minister, condemned him for changing his stance every day. They said that the Minister had first promised to release scholarship grant in February this year, then promised the same in the Vidhan Sabha in March and then shifted the date to September 30 during a statement given to the media in August. “Now, Dharamsot has given a fresh statement saying that the money will be released in December”, they added.
The students said that Dharamsot’s statement was also against the written assurance given by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh that the scholarship amount would be released soon. Stating that more than one lakh dalit students had been unable to take admission in colleges this year due to the Congress government’s refusal to release funds of the same, they said that now another two lakh students faced a bleak future with college managements refusing to let them sit for examinations next month unless they paid the tuition fee.
Stating that the SAD would not let the Congress government get away with this, Tinu demanded that the government must immediately direct all educational institutions not to force dalit students to pay tuition fee themselves and not stop them from sitting in the forthcoming examinations.