Pune: Students who reside in government quarters are likely to miss out on the scholarship granted by Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to those having 80 and above percentage in 
board examinations. 

The PMC offers a scholarship of Rs 15,000 each for Std X students and Rs 25,000 for Std XII students who have passed with distinction in board examinations. 
The scholarships are distributed in the name of Abul Kalam Azad and Lokshahir Annabhau Sathe. 

The scheme was introduced in 2009-10 by then standing committee chairman Shyam Deshpande and was allocated Rs 4.89 crore in that year. 

This year, the PMC has made the entire process online. 

The form has three mandatory columns: property tax, light bill and house agreement, either of which are not applicable for government workers. Due to this, many students and parents residing in government staff quarters are facing inconvenience. 

“They have put a red asterik mark on these columns. Unless these columns are filled, we cannot proceed further,” said a parent whose son has passed with 82 per cent in Std X this year, on condition of anonymity. 
He added that until last year the process was offline, which is why many government servants were able to fill the form and attach a certifcate provided by their respective organisations in this regard. 

“When my elder son passed with 86 per cent in Std X, we submitted a certificate acquired from my workplace along with the form. We got the scholarship then. This year I don’t see any option for us. At least there should have been an option of ‘other’ which would allow us to provide certificates from organisations to avail the facility,” he said. 

PMC officials told Sakal Times that offline submission of forms or documents won’t be considered. 

Sandhya Gagare, Head of Social Development Department of the PMC said, “All the documents required for Std X and Std XII passed students’ scholarship have been published on the PMC website. Students who don’t have essential documents will not receive the scholarship.”