700 underprivileged students were denied their dues for a year, as officials claimed there was no signing authority
After struggling to make ends meet and protesting to deaf ears for a year, underprivileged students residing in government hostels have finally received their stipend from the state government.
Students who hail from socio-economically backward classes are entitled to boarding at hostels run by the Social Welfare Department, as well as a monthly stipend of Rs 800 for boys and Rs 900 for girls.
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mid-day has, in the past, reported about the poor condition of government hostels in city, and has also highlighted the struggle of the students who resorted to begging in protest when they were not paid their dues for over a year.
The authorities had claimed that the absence of a signing authority led to this delay. Normally, the payments are signed off by the hostel warden, but out of the seven government hostels in the city, only two have wardens. This meant around 700 students were left high and dry.
Students are relieved
"Without stipend, life was becoming very difficult in the city. We would never get the payment on time, but we would accommodate the delay. But this time, there was no news of the stipend for almost a year. We are glad that they have issued it now," said Mahesh Dabholkar, a Kirti College student who hails from Sindhudurg and lives in a hostel at Jogeshwari.
Another student from the same hostel, Raghvendra Kamble, said, "The authorities said that the delay was because there was no warden to sign the paperwork for disbursement of stipend. But when the Social Welfare Department knows how important the warden’s post is, why did they keep it vacant for so long?"
Officialspeak
Yashwant More, deputy commissioner of Social Welfare Department, said, "Due to incomplete paperwork, stipend payment was pending. When the students approached me, I personally looked into the matter. We then made arrangements to make the Thane district officer a signatory authority for hostels without wardens, and the payment was disbursed."
Now that the stipend has finally been issued, students await the long-pending repairs in the hostels.
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