SALEM: Alleging serious irregularities in the execution of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) at Periyar University, students filed a complaint with Salem city police on Sunday.
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) launched the scheme in 2014 as part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), with an aim to train rural youth and provide them with jobs with monthly wages. The centre for the DDU-GKY scheme at the University is functioning with the financial assistance of the central government.
As per the complaint filed by A Prem and four other students, in November 2022, 200 students joined the six-month Data Science course in the centre. However, after two months, the administration cancelled offline classes with a promise of online classes which never happened, alleged the students. They also said during the admission, the administration had opened bank accounts in their names to receive the scholarship amount but did not give the passbooks and ATM cards to them.
The students said, “We suspect they might have swindled our scholarship amount deposited by the government. There is a huge scam going on at the Periyar University under this scheme.” When asked about it, an official said, “The centre is still conducting classes for 60 students. The students, who filed the complaint, must contact the CEO,” he said.
Despite multiple attempts, K Thangavel, University Registrar (in-charge), who is also the CEO of the centre for the DDU-GKY scheme, was unavailable for a comment.