NAGPUR: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday assured private unaided engineering colleges from the district that the government would be immediately releasing 75% of the scholarship amount held up for over two years.
The CM's assurance came as a major respite as colleges had threatened to stage protest during the winter session of legislature and move the court over the unpaid dues. Though colleges from other faculties too are affected, only office bearers from engineering college management, Vidarbha Unaided Engineering Colleges Association (VUEC), met the CM on Sunday at his official bungalow Ramgiri.
A delegation included representatives from Wanjari College, Sai Taj Polytechnic, Pannase Polytechnic, Pandav College, Santaji, NUVA, NIT among others. The association couldn't give exact figure of the pending amount and number of colleges.
"I have told them they will get interim payment," the CM told TOI.
The colleges had demanded disbursement of scholarship towards tuition fee of 57,000 students belonging to reserved categories and economically poor background for the academic years 2015-16 and 2016-17.
The engineering and polytechnic colleges claimed the teaching and non-teaching staff have gone unpaid for the last six months because of the pending funds.
"The situation is tense in every college and may turn into law and order issue if immediate step is not taken by the government. The colleges may be forced to close down or the staff may go on strike," said Avinash Dorsatwar, a member of VUEC.
Dorsatwar said the social welfare department is unable to process the scholarship bills because of technical issues. "The processing of scholarship data for previous and newly admitted batches is stuck for the last five months as the private operator's contract has been scrapped. The department doesn't have username and password of the students," he said.
The department also failed to inform these colleges any specific time period about restoring the data and disbursement.
"Teaching is badly affected in colleges as teachers are underperforming due to financial stress. How can you expect someone to give their 100% if they don't have money to fulfil their basic needs at home," Dorsatwar asked.
The association has also requested the government to reconsider the decision of direct benefit transfer (DBT) to deposit scholarship amount into accounts of students. Earlier, the government used to remit the tuition fee directly in the account of college. The colleges apprehended that the funds may be misused or withdrawn by students rather than paying it to them.
In its representation to the CM, the association states, "The government resolution mentions that the student should deposit the scholarship amount with the college as soon as it is received in their account and the entire responsibility of depositing this amount is of the student. But, the government didn't disclose what measure it would take if the students fail to deposit the fee with the college on time."
The CM's assurance came as a major respite as colleges had threatened to stage protest during the winter session of legislature and move the court over the unpaid dues. Though colleges from other faculties too are affected, only office bearers from engineering college management, Vidarbha Unaided Engineering Colleges Association (VUEC), met the CM on Sunday at his official bungalow Ramgiri.
A delegation included representatives from Wanjari College, Sai Taj Polytechnic, Pannase Polytechnic, Pandav College, Santaji, NUVA, NIT among others. The association couldn't give exact figure of the pending amount and number of colleges.
"I have told them they will get interim payment," the CM told TOI.
The colleges had demanded disbursement of scholarship towards tuition fee of 57,000 students belonging to reserved categories and economically poor background for the academic years 2015-16 and 2016-17.
The engineering and polytechnic colleges claimed the teaching and non-teaching staff have gone unpaid for the last six months because of the pending funds.
"The situation is tense in every college and may turn into law and order issue if immediate step is not taken by the government. The colleges may be forced to close down or the staff may go on strike," said Avinash Dorsatwar, a member of VUEC.
Dorsatwar said the social welfare department is unable to process the scholarship bills because of technical issues. "The processing of scholarship data for previous and newly admitted batches is stuck for the last five months as the private operator's contract has been scrapped. The department doesn't have username and password of the students," he said.
The department also failed to inform these colleges any specific time period about restoring the data and disbursement.
"Teaching is badly affected in colleges as teachers are underperforming due to financial stress. How can you expect someone to give their 100% if they don't have money to fulfil their basic needs at home," Dorsatwar asked.
The association has also requested the government to reconsider the decision of direct benefit transfer (DBT) to deposit scholarship amount into accounts of students. Earlier, the government used to remit the tuition fee directly in the account of college. The colleges apprehended that the funds may be misused or withdrawn by students rather than paying it to them.
In its representation to the CM, the association states, "The government resolution mentions that the student should deposit the scholarship amount with the college as soon as it is received in their account and the entire responsibility of depositing this amount is of the student. But, the government didn't disclose what measure it would take if the students fail to deposit the fee with the college on time."
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