Scholarship row: Punjab CM Amarinder Singh raps Centre ‘probe’

CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Monday took strong exception to an inquiry being ordered into the alleged scholarship scam by Union minister for social justice and empowerment without consulting the state government or waiting for the report of chief secretary’s investigation into the matter.
Reacting to the claim of minister of state Som Prakash that a departmental inquiry had been ordered, the Punjab CM said that if true, the move was yet another attack on the federal structure.
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Amarinder said the move was clearly aimed at eroding the state government’s authority, as part of the BJP-led central government’s agenda to undermine the governments in all non-BJP ruled states.
But his government will not succumb to such petty and motivated pressures by the BJP or any of its alliance partners, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, he asserted.
Prakash was quoted as saying on Monday late evening that he had drawn the attention of social justice minister Thaawarchand Gehlot to the alleged scam.
Pointing out that the alleged scam into which the
said inquiry has been ordered in fact took place in the 2015-2017 period, under the erstwhile SAD-BJP regime, Amarinder said if the intent behind the so-called central government departmental investigation was to cover up the BJP-SAD tracks in the case, it would not succeed.
It was during an audit ordered by his government that certain misappropriations came to light, which were now the subject matter of the chief secretary’s inquiry, Amarinder said.
The department had come across gaps and apparent misdemeanours in certain payments made to some colleges according to the funds sanctioned during the previous regime and it was then that he had decided to order the detailed probe, said the CM said.