‘Centre released Rs 196 crore for Scheduled Castes students scholarship’

Jalandhar, May 31: Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla today said that Rs 196 crore has been released for scholarships of SC students in the state, days after Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had claimed that the Centre was not releasing the amount. Sampla said Badal had been misinformed about the issue, adding he himself had apprised him of the situation. Badal had reportedly said that the Centre was not releasing the amount under post-matriculation scholarship scheme for Scheduled Castes (SC) students while the state government had paid its share. “The post-matriculation scholarship amount of Rs 196 crore for Dalit students has been released in two installments,” he said. Sampla, who was here at a meeting with Union minister J P Nadda and local BJP workers, said government had released the amount for the previous financial year. “The first installment of Rs 90 crore has been distributed, while arrangements are being made to distribute the second installment of Rs 106 crore,” he said. The Punjab Chief Minister has also created a reserve of Rs 100 crore which will be used for distributing the scholarship amount as and when required,” he said.