Tura MDC and Bharatiya Janata Party state vice-president Bernard Marak has shot back after the Chief Minister appeared to put the blame for the delay on the payment of scholarships to students on the central government.
The Centre provides 90 percent of the scholarship funds, with the remaining 10 percent coming from the Meghalaya government. Conrad K Sangma yesterday said that he is aware that students are still waiting for their scholarships and the delay is causing problems in terms of living expenses and fees.
However, Marak today questioned whether the state government is meeting the requirements, such as submitting the list of eligible students and the state’s 10 percent share on time to the Centre.
“The Centre will not deposit the money into the beneficiaries account until and unless the list of the beneficiaries and the 10 percent is forwarded to the Centre,” Marak, a long-time critic of the state government, said. “So the question is, is the state forwarding the list in time? Is the state contributing the 10 percent in time? Is the state taking care of all the due amount which has to be forwarded to the Centre in time? I think this is where the problem is – where the 10 percent and the list of the beneficiaries are not being forwarded to the Centre in time so that the amount can be deposited into the account of the beneficiaries.”
