VPDA portal woes delay Swadhar scholarship disbursement in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

Employees struggling to create accounts for the nearly 5,500 students

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The process of creating Virtual Personal Deposit Accounts (VPDA) for students eligible for the Swadhar Scholarship in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar is facing delays due to frequent glitches on the government portal. This has caused frustration for social welfare department employees who are struggling to create accounts for the nearly 5,500 students from the 2022-23 academic year.

Previously, scholarship amounts were directly transferred through the RTGS method. However, the recent implementation of the VPDA system for all subsidy schemes has created hurdles. The constant hanging of the portal due to high traffic from various departments across the state forces employees to work overtime or during holidays to complete the account creation process.

Adding to the complications, some banks IFSC codes are not recognized by the system, and post bank codes of many students are also rejected. In such cases, employees are required to cancel cheques, but many students lack them. As a temporary solution, color photocopies of bank passbooks are being submitted while the treasury office is informed about the issue.

Despite receiving Rs 19.5 crore in late March for the 2022-23 scholarships, the new VPDA system has significantly slowed down the disbursement process. The officials have assured that once the VPDA accounts are created, the scholarship funds will be credited immediately.

Meanwhile, applications for the 2023-24 scholarships have already been submitted, and the verification process is ongoing. The waiting list for these students is expected to be announced in June. The social welfare department advised the students to keep their PAN cards, bank account IFSC codes, and cancel cheques readily available for a smooth application process.