BJP decries non-payment of stipend to SC students

02 February, Patna

Non-payment of stipend to Scheduled Castes students studying at a Bhubaneshwar based engineering college today snowballed into a major political controversy as BJP accused the Nitish Kumar government of being completely insensitive to the plight of members of the oppressed classes.

Senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi told newspersons that the way state Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Welfare Department remained unresponsive to the repeated requests of Bhubaneswar based Rajdhani Engineering College to send stipend amount to the college, it had become clear that the state government had no concern for them.

Modi said one of the students Loknath Kumar had narrated his agony to him. He also asked the state government to act swiftly if it was really concerned about their welfare. The engineering student is a resident of East Chamarapn district in the state, he added.

In all 60 SC/ST students from the state (18 from East Champaran and 42 from West Champaran) were forced to leave the engineering college after the state government failed to pay their stipend despite repeated request by the college administration for the last one and half years.

Bihar Human Rights Commission (BHRC) also issued notice to Principal Secretary of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Welfare Department for non-payment of stipend under the state government’s Dalit Stipend Scheme.