By ARUN PRATAP SINGH
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 10 Sep: Following the directions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has begun its investigation into the alleged irregularities in minority scholarships. The government has appointed Inspector General of Police (IG) Dr Nilanand Bharne as the head of this Special Investigation Team (SIT).
The first meeting of the SIT was held under the chairmanship of IG Dr Bharne. Besides officials from the Minority Welfare Department, administrative officers from the districts falling under the purview of the institutions under investigation were also present at the meeting. During the meeting, instructions were issued to officers from five districts implicated in the scam to submit their reports within three days.
It will be pertinent to remind here that the information regarding the minority scholarship matter was conveyed by officials of the Central Government to the Uttarakhand Minority Welfare Department. According to information received from the Centre, documents for scholarships had been registered by 92 institutions with their department. These institutions register themselves on the National Scholarship Portal, and the scholarship amount is directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
Out of these, the role of 17 institutions has been found suspicious. The Central Government, informing the Uttarakhand Government, had urged the state for the verification of these institutions.
Significantly, among these 17, mention was also made of Saraswati Shishu Mandir High School in Kichha, Udham Singh Nagar district, whose operators were stated to be Mohammad Shariq and Ateeq. However, during investigation, no school by this name was found there.
It may be recalled that the Saraswati Shishu Mandir existing there is a secondary school run by Vidya Bharati which is an affiliate organisation of RSS and has a large number of schools across the country which offer quality education at nominal fees.
Similarly, reference was made to Vasukedar Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya in Rudraprayag, which was stated to be operated by a Muslim individual named Nasruddin. In Udham Singh Nagar itself, information has come to light that 456 out of 796 names of children were found to be fake.
In Rudraprayag, regarding the Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya that came to notice, documents of female students residing in the 24 Parganas district of Bengal were registered from there. Likewise, 92 institutions have been brought under the scanner in connection with such cases, out of which fraud appears evident at first glance in the case of 17. Similarly, the names of Naveen Shishu Junior High School and Pratibha Vikas Junior High School in Nainital have also come to light. The names of 85 students of Sanskriti Public School in Roorkee are also suspect.
Most of these schools are reported to be fake institutions operated by individuals from a particular community irrespective of the Hindu sounding names, where scholarship amounts have been siphoned off by registering fake documents, including Aadhaar cards, on the portal.
However, serious questions have also arisen regarding the possible role of the officials of the local Minority Welfare or Social Welfare Department behind the scam as it is their responsibility to verify facts before approving and granting scholarships. Sources claim that this is also now being investigated.
In this regard, the Central Government has asked for an investigation on seven points and for the registration of First Information Reports (FIRs) after identifying fake cases.
In this sequence, two FIRs were also registered in Nainital district on 13 June but not much progress has been reported since and it is now that the SIT has launched a serious investigation into the case.
In this respect, Chief Minister Dhami has stated that the matter of taking scholarships in the name of Sanatani institutions like Shishu Mandirs is extremely serious. He has added that the government has formed an SIT and initiated a thorough investigation. The Central and State Governments will work together to expose the fraud and take strict action against the culprits.
