The PhD scholars at National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar on Tuesday complained that the institute was delaying the release of their fellowship for unknown reasons, causing huge inconvenience to them.
“We have submitted our fellowship details on time and had already written to the institute a number of times regarding the matter. But it seems our plea has gone to deaf ears,” an aggrieved candidate said.
The candidates said their financial conditions were not good and were dependent on the fellowship of the institute, which is being denied to them for around six months.
“We knocked every door of the institute but in vain as nothing has been done so far,” the candidate said.
The candidates said every country was focusing more on Research and Development (R&D) and on the same pattern it was expected that the Institute will support the scholars in research and development.
“But if the scholars are denied the fellowship which is entitled to them as per norms, how can the initiative of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, be a success under such conditions,” the candidate said, adding that the research scholars were suffering for last six months due to non-disbursement of fellowship amount.
“Amid the ongoing pandemic situation, the institute should have resolved our grievance on priority. But, unfortunately they are paying no heed to it,” he said.
The candidates said it has become hard for them to meet their research expenses. “And we are not able to focus on R&D without fellowship since May 2020,” he said.
The Registrar NIT, Prof Kaisar Bukhari when contacted admitted that the fellowship of the scholars was pending for past few months.
He said that they have requested the Ministry of Education for release of additional grants to the tune of Rs eight crore to meet this deficit. “We are hopeful that the grants will be released in this week only,” he said.