Chandigarh: Union government has constituted a three-member committee to investigate the alleged scam in Post Matric Scholarship scheme in Punjab. Joint secretary Kalyani Chadda along with M A Meena and Prakash Tamrakar will investigate it and will submit a report in four weeks.
MoS Industry and Commerce Som Parkash said: "A committee has been constituted by government and report will be submitted in one month I am sure that justice would be delivered."
In multi-crore scholarship scam name of Punjab cabinet minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot has surfaced and the delegation has requested Union Minister to investigate the matter.
The investigation into Punjab’s post-matric scholarship scheme scam by state govt has held that the state’s social justice, empowerment and minorities minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and his team of officers worked in tandem and caused loss of crores to the government.
The Union government had in February and March 2019 sent a total amount of Rs 303 crore to the Punjab government under the post-matric scholarship scheme for Scheduled Castes and the state directorate of social justice withdrew Rs 248 crore from the treasury and this amount was distributed in an arbitrary manner.
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Earlier MoS industry and Commerce Som Parkash wrote a letter to Union minister Thawar Chand Gahlot and he claimed that departmental enquiry had been ordered by Social Justice Ministry of Government of India on his complaint. Som Parkash was quoted saying later that he had drawn the attention of Social Justice minister to allegedly scam.
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh took strong exception to the enquiry being ordered into alleged scholarship without consulting the State government or waiting for the report of Chief Secretary's investigation into the matter.
Captain Amrinder Singh called it as another attack on the federal structure of Indian constitutional polity claiming that the move was clearly aimed at eroding the state government authority as a part of BJP -led central government's agenda to undermine the governments in all non-BJP ruled states.
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He also said that his government will not succumb to such petty and motivated pressures by BJP or any of its partners including Shiromani Akali Dal.
Som Prakash also refuted allegations of Punjab government for discrimination in releasing GST funds. He said, "The GST collection due to lock down and pandemic has decreased practically and there is no question of discrimination on the basis of BJP or non-BJP ruled states. I have talked to Punjab finance minister and the funds up to March are cleared,"
On MSP controversy and agricultural ordinances, he said that NDA government is committed for welfare of farmers and MSP will continue like earlier. Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar has already cleared it in a letter to Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.
On the controversy over not including Punjabi in the list of official languages of Jammu and Kashmir, Somprakash said that it is unfortunate and Punjabi should be included. It is not confined to any religion but it is a mother tongue of all Punjabi across the world.
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