Students eligible for zero fees left in lurch

LUCKNOW: The fate of scores of students in the city eligible for zero fee scholarship is at stake after the social welfare department has rejected their claim citing discrepancies in the online application forms. These students, pursuing higher education, belong to SC/ST category and come from weak economic background. Due to errors and inconsistencies being alleged in the online forms, they are unable to deposit fee for their undergraduate courses and subsequent formalities for admission to post graduation courses.Arun Kumar, an SC student pursuing MCA from Institute of Engineering & Technology, is worried about his future. “The income certificate that I had submitted was also used by my younger brother. His scholarship has been approved, but mine has been rejected. The computer shows the document has two different names against my father's name. I had checked my form while filling online and there was no such error. The form was verified and checked at two levels before being sent to social welfare department,” said Arun. His letters to the district magistrate’s office and social welfare department did not evoke satisfactory reply. Hundreds of students like Arun are facing similar problem. Shyamu, a BCom (Hons) student of Lucknow University said, “There was some error on my part while filling the form. I had given the incorrect bank IFSC in the form. As the form was online, there was no edit option and once filled it was accepted. Since it is not just my case, but of many others in the city, I request the government to get the forms corrected or let us correct them, so that we get our scholarship money.” Shaymu claimed that he received a letter from the Lucknow University registrar in response to his query in this regard. “I got a letter today which said that I won't be allowed admission to a PG course since my semesters V and VI fees has not been submitted. My father is a farmer and the shock of no scholarship will leave him devastated,” he rued. Chief development officer Yogesh Kumar said the social welfare department will look into the matter.