Relief for 2 lakh SC students as state releases 40% dues

CHANDIGARH: After the Punjab government agreed to release funds under the post-matric scholarship scheme, the Joint Association of Colleges (JAC) of private educational institutions on Friday decided to issue roll numbers to nearly two lakh scheduled caste (SC) students in the state.

The decision to issue roll numbers was taken after the state government agreed to release 40% of the outstanding amount of SC post-matric scholarship scheme pertaining to financial years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. The two sides reached the agreement at a meeting held between a committee of ministers headed by finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal and the association of private educational institutions.

The high-powered committee also included technical education and industrial training minister Charanjit Singh Channi, higher education minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, social welfare minister Sadhu Singh Dharmsot, chief principal secretary to CM Suresh Kumar and secretaries of various departments.

The JAC was represented by chief patron Satnam Singh Sandhu, chairman Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, president Jagjit Singh and co-chairman Anshu Kataria among others. The private educational institutions have been protesting against non-disbursal of ₹1,549 crore by the state government under the scholarship scheme, and had decided to withhold roll numbers of students.

In the meeting, the state government agreed to release 40% of the outstanding amount. Out of this, 50% amount will be released within this year and balance 50% will be released in the next financial year, according to Kataria.