Punjab Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities Minister Dr. Raj Kumar Verka said that the state government will make sure that the benefit of government welfare schemes shall reach to real needy and eligible beneficiaries and no exploitation of weaker sections shall be tolerated at any cost.The cabinet minister was chairing the review meeting of the Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities department during which he also directed the officials to take all proactive measures for the welfare of weaker sections of the society.The minister directed the department officials to seek a report from districts across regarding the students whose roll numbers had been withheld due to the non-payment of fees or any other dues. He added that the department officials should also prepare reports about the dropout rate of students belonging to SC and OBC categories which would help the department to take appropriate action to bring them back to the educational institutions. He also directed the officials to speed up the recruitment process in the department.Dr. Raj Kumar Verka also directed the department officials to conduct a survey across the state to review the status of ‘Kache’ houses and said that after the survey, he would personally take up the issue of required funds with the authorities concerned.
He said that in the modern era, every family should have a 'pucca' house for proper shelter in the harsh weather conditions and the Punjab Government would ensure all possible assistance to them towards this direction. He said that apart from the vision of Chief Minister S. Charanjit Singh Channi, he will also ensure that the benefits of all the welfare schemes should reach to eligible beneficiaries at the earliest so that living standard of the poor to poor people should rise in all aspects.Dr. Verka said that the state government has also decided to extend the last date for applying for post-matric scholarship schemes for students on Dr. Ambedkar Scholarship Portal. The cabinet minister informed that earlier, the last date of applying on portal was September 30 but following the persistent demands of students belonging to Scheduled Caste categories, the government has decided to extend the last date to October 25 which would now benefit thousands more needy students. He said that the last date for institutions and verifying authorities have also been extended to October 31.On this occasion, Principal Secretary Raji P. Shrivastava, Director Bhupinder Singh, Executive Director PSCFC Devinder Singh, Chairman Backfinco Harjinder Singh Thekedar, Joint secretary-cum-director SC sub plan Raj Bahadur Singh, Under Secretary Manohar Lal Bangarh, Deputy Director Rupinderpal Singh, Joint Director Sushil Kumar, DCFA Avtar Singh, Deputy Director Sarbjinder Singh Randhawa, Deputy Director Parminder Singh Gill among several other officials and dignitaries were also present.