Nodal agency Social Welfare Department adopts dilly dally tactics
Srinagar, Feb 12, : Hundreds of meritorious students are wandering from pillar to post to get the scholarship sanctioned for them by Government of India.
The Social Welfare Department blames Nodal Officer Jammu and Kashmir for negligence saying that he has not uploaded digital signatures of students selected for the scholarship.
Hundreds of professional students from Kashmir Valley had submitted their forms in 2018 while the National Scholarship Portal selected the meritorious students for the scholarship and sanctioned scholarship for them from June 2019.
Government of India had asked Social Welfare Department to act as nodal agency and distribute the scholarship worth Rs 30,000 among the students. However, till date these students have got nothing even after wasting their time and energy over the issue.
“We contacted National Scholarship Portal in New Delhi and they directed us to be in touch with Social Welfare Department. To our surprise, we are being informed on daily basis that Nodal Officer J&K is not uploading digital signatures on the official website and that is why amount due to them under the scholarship scheme is not being distributed. We have never seen this Nodal Officer and even Social Welfare Department is not revealing his name,” the students told news agency.
Most of these meritorious students who badly need scholarships to continue their studies are M.Tech and B.Tech students. They belong to poor families.
“Director Social Welfare blames Nodal Officer for the delay. Nobody in the department is interested in solving our problem. We appeal concerned official from the Government of India to look into the matter,” the students said.
Despite repeated attempts, Director Social Welfare didn’t pick up the phone. (KNT)
