SHILLONG: The children with special needs in East Khasi Hills are yet to receive the book grants allotted by the government.
The parents of the children with special needs on April 2 sent a letter to the East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner, Abhishek Bhagotia about the non-release of book grants for 2017-2018.
The parents said the office of the District Social Welfare Officer (DSWO) in East Khasi Hills normally deposits the book grant in the bank account in April.
According to an affected parent, the book grant for 2017-2018 was not released till date and the amount should have been deposited by April 2018.
The reason for the delay is due to the joining of new Upper Divisional Assistant (UDA) in the office of the DSWO. “The UDA had joined in the last week of April last year. Due to her inexperience, she could not deposit the book grant,” the parents alleged.
The parents had met the UDA on several occasions requesting her to deposit the book grant.
“Instead, she claimed that the book grant was already deposited in the account. The amount which she had claimed is Escort Allowance which comes from the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme. The SSA earmarks Rs 2500 every year for the Escort Allowance,” the parents said, alleging that the UDA was trying to mislead by claiming that the Escort allowance was book grant.
In the letter addressed to the Deputy Commissioner, the parents said that the children with special needs are facing hardships due to inexperience of the UDA. “The UDA had directed the parents to update the bank pass book time and again. But when they went to the bank, they were informed that they had not credited any amount from the account of the DSWO, Shillong. It should have been the duty of the UDA to address the problem. But for months now she is not addressing the matter and instead keeps on asking the parents to update the pass book,” the parents said.
Moreover, the money for the book grant and the scholarship is not transferred to the account and instead only cash is given. “The disbursement of the amount in cash is against the order given by the state government.
The government in April 2017 had issued an order regarding the transfer of amount to the individual account or joint account.
“ We were also told that hence forth the cash scheme would be made only through bank transfer to avoid misuse of money,” the parents said.
The office of DSWO had given scholarship and book grant in cash despite the request of the parents to deposit the amount in the bank account.
Most of the parents who are from the villages have to come to Shillong to collect the amount. The parents were also asked to provide photocopies of the disability certificates to prove identity though they had already submitted all the documents when they filled the forms, they said.
The parents have urged the deputy commissioner to take note of the violation of the order by the DSWO and take action against the officer for harassing the children with special needs.