Hyderabad: The parents of Overseas Scholarship applicants staged a protest at the Hajj House against the attitude adopted by the officials and the non-issuance of Chief Ministers Overseas Scholarship Scheme funds on Monday.
Chief Minister’s Overseas Scholarships applications are received twice a year by the State Government for the sanction of scholarships under the supervision of the Director of Minority Welfare Department and it is claimed that before the end of the year, all approved applications are processed with funds released.
The release of the budget and scholarships has been divided into 4 phases. As per the claim of the Minority Welfare Department, the state government has released the full amount for the financial year 2021-22. However, the protesting parents allege that misleading figures are being released by Department of Minority Welfare which is not only confusing the government but also the leaders representing the minorities in the state houses.
In addition to this, most of the students applying during the year 2020 have received SMS messages stating that the funds are being transferred to their accounts, but the funds have not been transferred so far, as none of the applicants of the year 2021 have received overseas scholarships. However, the officials of the Minority Welfare Department say that during the financial year 2020-21, Rupees 58.93 crores have been released, while a budget of 62.53 crores was allocated in the said year, similarly, in the year 2020- 2021, budget of 74.46 crores was allocated by the state government and bills worth 72.35 crores have been prepared and a total of rupees 72.35 crores have been released, however, students are still waiting for the release of funds and these figures are being termed as misleading.
The protesting parents say that the claims made by the government and the Minority Welfare Department are based on lies as they are running from pillar to post at the offices for the amount of scholarships issued for their children.
The ongoing fraud in the issuance of overseas scholarships has also been exposed by the parents and it is said that the employees serving in the Minority Welfare Department are receiving up to 25% of the funds through their agents and for this purpose they are asking for an advance of 2 to 3 lakh rupees.
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