Punjab SC commission reviews welfare schemes

Punjab SC Commission Chairman Rajesh Bagha today said instructions have been issued to various institutions in the state not to collect admission, tuition and other refundable fees from scheduled caste students having annual family income less than Rs two lakh.
Bagha, who held a meeting of the commission here to review the various schemes being run for the welfare of scheduled castes, said strict advisory has been issued to all those professional and private institutes which have still not implemented the post-matric scholarship scheme.
He said it has also come to the notice of the commission that toilet facilities are still not provided to the SC population in most of the villages.

He said the Punjab government has been recommended to look into this issue and get toilets built at the earliest in inhabitation's of scheduled caste communities in villages.
A report has also been sought from the welfare department regarding the pending cases of inter-caste marriages and 'Shagun' scheme, he said.
The commission has also sought a written report from police department regarding the cases registered against scheduled caste persons in 2012-13 and action taken in these cases, Bagha added.
On reports that houses of several SC members were ransacked at various places in Punjab, Bagha said the director of local bodies under the Punjab government has been asked to make arrangements for the rehabilitation of all affected.