Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday sought Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot’s personal intervention for the release of central assistance for post-matric scholarship scheme for the Scheduled Caste (SC) students of the state.
Badal, in a letter to Gehlot, has requested him for expediting the matter related to release of Rs 245.08 crore as backlog of the year 2014-15 and balance amount of year 2015-16, so that the SC students could reap the benefits of post matric scholarship in time.
Badal apprised him that under centrally sponsored scheme, Post Matric Scholarship to SC Students, 100 percent funds were provided by the Centre over and above the committed liability of the state, that is Rs 60.80 crore.
“The utilization certificate, amounting to Rs 376.87 crore released as central assistance by the Centre to the State, along with the utilization certificate of committed liability of Rs 60.80 crore of the State during 2014-15 had already been sent to Ministry vide letter February 23, 2015. Revised proposal for balance allocation for 2014-15 of Rs 245.08 crore was sent to Centre on February 6, 2015,” he stated.
The Chief Minister said that during 2015-16, the state government had again sent a proposal, of Rs 835.33 crore to the Ministry on May 6, in which Rs 245.08 crore for 2014-15 benefiting 2,86,395 students and Rs 527.68 crore for 2015-16 for benefiting 3,15,033 students, requesting the Ministry for its release as central assistance promptly.
As the matter was pending with the Centre, the Institutes and students were demanding fees and maintenance allowance of 2014-15, he said, adding that due to non-release of central assistance, various institutions have filed Civil Writ Petitions in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for payment of scholarships.
“Number of Court Cases are likely to increase if the pending payments are not released immediately by the Union Government for onward payment to these institutes or colleges,” added Badal.
Making a strong plea for immediate release of backlog as well as the current year amount, the Chief Minister said that the Ministry has released Rs 49.30 crore as central assistance on June 30 for the year 2015-16. “The amount released to the State is far less in comparison to the demand proposal of Rs 527.68 crore for the state for 2015-16,” he pointed.
Badal said that it has been noticed that the allocation was much less than compared to other States like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. “However, this amount has been released for 2015-16 without cleaning the pending liability for 2014-15,” mentioned the Chief Minister.