By Muslim Mirror News,
Murshidabad, April 30: The Campus Front of India West Bengal state committee organized a dharna protest in front of DM office at Berhampur in Murshidabad against invalid cheques to minority students. Some 78000 cheques given in pre-matric scholarships to minority students in West Bengal have either been deemed invalid or bounced.
West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (WBMDFC) had distributed the pre-matric scholarship checques for the year 2012-13 to nearly 12 lakh minority students. However, several thousand cheques are reported to have ‘bounced’ from the WBMDFC account due to either insufficient funds or as the cheques reached concerned schools or students after the expiry of the dates. As a rule a cheque is valid for three months from the date of its issue.
Generally a scholarship of Rs 1000 or 1075 is given to students. Several thousand affected students from the northern districts of Cooch Bihar, North Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, etc may never get the reimbursement as it would not make any sense for those poor students to spend money in traveling to Kolkata for this small amount, so either the students or their guardians will have to come to the Kolkata office for the collection of the cheques.
Campus Front state Gen Sec Ayatullah Qumaini leading the protest stated that “this is the deliberate policy of the Government and bureaucracy to not get the scholarship for the Muslim students, it is the attitude of several state governments in our country for Muslim students scholarship”.
Abdul Azeez state secretary said: “Chief Minisiter Mamata Banerjee, who also holds the additional portfolio of the Minority Affairs and Madrasa education department, should have taken care of the minority scholarship distribution but she failed to deliver.”
Campus Front of India demanded the WBMDFC to send cheques by post so neither the students nor their guardians will have to come to Kolkata for the collection of the cheques, and the immediate inquiry and action against those who are responsible for the invalid or bounce cheques. Campus Front submitted a memorandum to the DM also.