BHOPAL : The scholarship scam coming to the fore after Vyapam scam, may land the state government in troubled waters. MLA Girish Gautam, during Question Hour on Monday, raised the issue of scholarship scam in Rewa and Sidhi districts.
Higher Education Minister Umashankar Gupta admitted in the House that complaints across the state have come about irregularities in scholarship. He said a high-level committee would be constituted to monitor the probe underway in the districts.
Meanwhile, Rewa division, Additional Director, Prabhat Pandey was suspended on Monday evening, for not investigating into the matter properly. Gupta admitted in the House that those who were not eligible availed the benefit of scholarship. He said College owners were not providing records for the probe in Rewa. Collector has been directed to get the matter probed by a committee, headed by an SDM. Gupta said criminal cases would be filed on the basis of probe report. He said Collectors and Additional Directors have been written to take action and get police case filed on the basis of probe.
Gautam, raising the issue, claimed that as many as 891 ineligible students took scholarship to the tune of Rs 50 crore in Rewa. In this way, large-scale corruption at state level took place. Gautam said influential persons were also involved in the irregularities. He claimed that Government and private colleges struck a deal with students to take half of the amount of the scholarship. Gautam demanded to constitute Special Investigating Team (SIT) or get the matter probed by Economic Offences Wing (EOW). Gupta said the issue is mainly concerned with Department of Tribal Welfare and the committee would be formed in consultation with him. MLA Mukesh Nayak said information about irregularities in scholarship has been given in 90,000 pages in the form of a CD.
