SDMC House meeting adjourned after ruckus over alleged 'scholarship scam'

New Delhi: Members of the Aam Aadmi Party, led by Leader of Opposition Prem Chauhan, raised slogans and placards in protest in a meeting of the SDMC House on Tuesday.

AAP members were demonstrating against an alleged scholarship scam in the BJP-ruled SDMC. In response, BJP councillors also raised a rebuttal, causing Leader of House Narendra Chawla to adjourn house proceedings following the commotion.

Chauhan demanded Mayor Anamika Mithilesh Singh's resignation and that of other "corrupt officials" involved in this alleged Rs 5.7 crore scam. "From 2012 till 2017 when there was no option of digital transactions for children, the Delhi government used to give a scholarship of Rs 500 per year to the children of the Dalit community studying in the schools under Department of Education. When this money went to the account of the Central Zone of the South MCD, the leaders of the BJP used it for their corruption. They opened fake accounts to get this money. After that, the money was withdrawn in different places in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. AAP found this corruption and asked for a probe. As soon as the investigation came to light, some BJP leaders put the withdrawn money back into the account. AAP filed a written complaint with the ACB to disclose the scam. At the beginning of the investigation, a document came out which revealed the scam of Rs 5.7 crore. This document is with us and we feel that in addition to this there is also a scam of Rs 20 crore.

The ACB lodged an FIR against the BJP ruled South MCD, under pressure from the Aam Aadmi Party. "The ACB has detained some officials and some are still remaining. As long as this investigation continues, all the officials involved in it should be expelled," Chauhan said.

Chauhan told Millennium Post, said that the AAP is still investigating the matter and plans to expose another such scam in the next 15-20 days. Significantly, one SDMC school teacher confirmed that some MCD teachers had tried to approach the AAP in the past few days to bring this matter to their attention.

Several teachers of MCD schools have also told Millennium Post that many SC/ST/OBC/Minority scholarships have not reached their beneficiaries since 2016 despite all paperwork being in order.