SRINAGAR; 11, May 2013: Expressing his concern over non-implementation of Special Scholarship Scheme (SSS) for students of Jammu and Kashmir, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Saifuddin Soz has sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention into the issue.

The PCC chief, in a letter to Dr Singh sent on May 9, which was released here yesterday, said that the Government has devised a scheme to provide scholarships to students of Jammu and Kashmir to undertake studies outside the State.

It was titled as Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme for Jammu and Kashmir State. He said the scheme provided that a particular income group of boys and girls, verified properly, would be selected for admission at various universities and colleges outside the State.

However, the scholarship have not been released so far by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), he alleged. He said there are reports that many students, who had cleared their first and second semesters, did not receive the scholarships so far. Many students have returned home with a deep sense of frustration, Prof Soz said.

“One wonders why the HRD Ministry did not put the device for verification in shape within a required timeframe so that the scholarships would be disbursed in time,” he said. He said that he has already urged the Ministry of HRD to release the scholarships immediately so that the eligible students do not give up their studies outside the state and return with a feeling of hurt.

Besides this, the scheme has to be open-ended in the sense that if there are more than 5,000 students, the additional number should also get the scholarship as the financial implications will be negligible, the letter said.