After facing wrath over slashing of post-matric scholarship amounts meant for the students belonging to SC and ST categories, the State Government revoked its decision on Sunday.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik ordered to put the notification issued by the SC/ST Department on hold and asked the officials for a review of the decision. Now, the SC/ST students would continue to get the full fees for studies under the existing post-matric scholarship programme. The clarification by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) came a day after the State Youth Congress hit out at the BJD Government for reducing the course fee amounts for the SC/ST students.
State Youth Congress president Smruti Ranjan Lenka had showed a copy of the notification issued by the SC/ST Department accusing the Government of slashing the course fees from Rs 60,000 to Rs 25,000 for the SC/ST students in BTech, from Rs 66,000 to Rs 25,000 in MTech, from Rs 40,000 to Rs 8200 in Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS), from Rs 40,000 to Rs 7200 in Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) and from Rs 45,000 to Rs 25,000 for the students pursing BPharma in various institutions. Lenka had said the poor students belonging to SC and ST, who have been already enrolled into various courses, would not be able to complete their studies as the Government has reduced the course fees.