Four Kashmiri students forced to leave Punjab college
MHRD fails to disburse fee – PM Scholarship
Four Kashmiri students enrolled under Prime Minister’s Scholarship Scheme in Indo Global College of Engineering, Abhipur, Mohali Punjab, have been forcibly expelled by the college authorities from the institution after Ministry of Human Resource Development failed to disburse their fee.
The students were enrolled in this institution by Peace Foundation and Peoples Forum.
The aggrieved students- Azhan ul Riyaz, Younis Gulzar, Majid Fayaz and Waheed Ahmad – told Greater Kashmir over phone from Mohali that their careers were at stake as the college authorities have asked them to pay fee on their own, failing which they would not be allowed to enter in the institution.
“We were enrolled in this institution by Peace Foundation. They took Rs 25000 from us as security deposit,” said Azhan.
He added that they have been cheated by the firm and the current situation has put them under depression and mental stress.
They said that they have no place to stay as hotels there are too expensive. “We are here making an effort to convince college authorities to allow us to attend classes and stay in college hostel. We will see what would be their final take,” they added.
J&K Peoples Forum chairman, Nasrullah, said that he has taken up the issue with the college authorities. “We are also in touch with officials of MHRD. The funds would be disbursed shortly,” he said.
He added that MHRD has already released the funds for the other 95 Kashmiri students enrolled in this institution. “We are also making efforts to accommodate the aggrieved students till officials disburse their fee to the college,” he said.
Director of Indo Global College, R Panikar, told Greater Kashmir that as the MHRD has failed to disburse the amount, they were forced to take the step. “It is last year of the students and only few months are left for their completion of course. We also offered them good discount (scholarship), however they are not ready to pay,” he said.
“We are under depression as all of us belong to poor families with no source to pay hefty amounts as fee in the institution,” the students said.
The Prime Minister’s Scholarship Programme was expected to benefit at least 25000 students from Jammu and Kashmir. It was recommended by a panel led by Dr C Rangarajan, which was mandated to look into the issue of rising unemployment in the state post the summer uprisings of 2008, 2009 and 2010.
The panel was constituted in 2010 and recommended enhancing job opportunities in unemployment-ridden J&K, suggesting that the state should be given 5,000 free scholarships annually for five years, beginning 2011-12. These scholarships, the panel said, should vary from Rs 30,000 to Rs 3 lakh per annum for the students.
However, the scheme has been in news mostly for wrong reasons as large number of students enrolled in different institutions complained that the amount of money promised under the scheme was not disbursed, forcing the college authorities to disallow students to continue their courses.
