17 cases filed, investigation slow: Muminul Aowal

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: It's the same old story – swindling of minority students' pre-matric and post-matric scholarship amounts by headmasters, bank officials and officials of inspectors of schools through fake accounts in the name of fake and ineligible students.

This allegation has come from none other than AMDB (Assam Minority Development board) chairman Muminul Aowal who has filed 17 cases in this connection with the police and the CID. Aowal has also alleged that the investigations into the cases have not been progressing at all. He's now contemplating on moving Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to seeking his intervention to speed up the investigation into the cases.

Most of the swindling of minority students' scholarship money took place in fiscal 2018-19 and 2019-20 in Nagaon, Darrang, Goalpara, Karimganj, Hailakandi, Kamrup, Morigaon, Bongaigaon and Barpeta districts. He said that thousands of fake beneficiaries have gone away with the benefits in collusion with headmasters, bank officials and officials in the inspectors of schools.

In fiscal 2019-20 while the total pre-matric scholarship for students from Class V-X was fixed at Rs 161 crore, the post-matric scholarship from HS to degree level and technical education was fixed at Rs 400 crore. "Around 70-80 per cent of the bank accounts submitted to the Centre were fake ones," Aowal said, adding that the Central government deposits the scholarship amount directly into the accounts of the students.

Aowal said that the situation was no different in 2018-19. He said that the cases have been filed after the detection of the swindling of scholarship funds.

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