PUCA Urge State Govt. to Release Immediately 115 Crore of PMS

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Chandigarh 11^th July:- Punjab Unaided Colleges Association (PUCA) urged Punjab Govt. to release 115 crore of Post Matric Scholarship (PMS) which has been released by Centre Govt. to bail out the ailing education Industry of Punjab.

It is to be mentioned that 115 Crore has already been released by the Centre Govt around two months before to the State Govt. but further it hasn't been released yet by the State Govt to the Colleges. An amount of Rs 1,046.48 crore is still pending towards the Centre Govt. for the year 2015-16 and 2016-17.

Dr. Anshu Kataria, President, PUCA while speaking said that non release of funds by the State Govt has not only adversely affected the Unaided Colleges but has also affected more than 3 lakh SC students of the Punjab. Anshu Kataria further appreciated the efforts being made by State Government for the follow up of pending 1,046.48 crore with the Centre Govt.  He said that if the amount wouldn't be released immediately then it would adversely affect the admissions of 2017-18.

Gurfateh Singh, Vice President, PUCA said that on the one hand more than 3 lakh students haven't been reimbursed Post Matric Scholarship on the other hand Punjab Technical University(PTU) Bathinda & Jalandhar & PSBTEIT are charging registration/examination fees for such students from the colleges. He questioned further that how can a college pay to the University/Board from its own pocket when neither the student nor the Punjab Government has paid fees to the College?.

CA, Manmohan Garg, Finance Secretary, PUCA said that Centre / State Govt. is free to hold some part of the amount till the enquiry of fund is pending. But at the same time the Govt. should release balance amount to the colleges to run their expenses.

Manmohan Garg further added that as per the RBI Guidelines if any college doesn't pay loan to the bank in 90 days is declared NPA by the bank. Afterwards banks start proceedings against the college including possession, Auction against that college. Over 1000 crore is unpaid to colleges from last 2-3 years resulting into many good colleges accounts turning into NPA accounts.