PUNE: More than 20,000 students in the city eligible for scholarships for higher education have not received their scholarship amount for the past two years.Bhushan Ranbhare, Pune city president of National Students Union of India (NSUI), on Thursday said, "It has been two years now that 20,000 students in Pune have not received their scholarship amounts. Many of these students not just belong to reserved category, but also come from economically weak background. They have taken admission into higher education courses only due to the scholarship scheme."This government apathy has prompted several students' unions under NSUI to call for a state-wide protest. "The situation is same in districts other than Pune with several students complaining about the delay in scholarship amount," NSUI members said.Ranbhare said when the social justice department of the state government was given a letter regarding payment of scholarship fees to students, it was learnt that many applications of the students were missing.Sumati Kale, a student of Savitribai Phule Pune University, said, "I have followed up with the department for at least eight months for repayment of my scholarship fees. My third term is underway and still there is no response from the department officials."When contacted, the state education department officials said, "We have received the letter from students' union regarding payment of scholarship amounts. We will soon respond to the students on their queries and see to it that the education of students does not suffer."

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