BARTI Students Allege Stipend Withheld; Demand Action Against Project Manager
Nagpur, 4th November 2025: Serious allegations have surfaced against a contractual project manager at the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Research and Training Institute (BARTI), Pune, with students claiming that their stipends have been deliberately withheld and that they are being subjected to unnecessary harassment.
According to a letter submitted by Aniket Kuttarmare, President of the Priyadarshi Samrat Ashok Multipurpose Organization, to BARTI’s Director General, the organization has demanded the immediate removal of Project Manager Shubhangi Sutar, who is responsible for overseeing the JEE and NEET coaching programs at the institute.
Kuttarmare’s complaint states that Sutar has been intentionally creating obstacles for students enrolled in the JEE and NEET training batches. Stipends for the 2023–25 batch have reportedly been pending for over six months, while students from the 2024–26 batch have not received their stipends for the past three months.
Additionally, institutions providing training under BARTI are supposed to receive periodic payments, but those funds too, are being delayed by up to six months, causing financial strain and disruption to students’ studies.
Demand Draft Controversy
Students and parents have also raised objections to the project manager’s alleged insistence that stipend payments be collected via demand drafts (DDs) instead of direct bank transfers. In several cases, students have reportedly been called from Nagpur to BARTI’s Pune office to collect their DDs in person.
Parents have criticized this as an unnecessary and burdensome process, noting that traveling from Nagpur to Pune costs nearly Rs 5000, almost equal to the stipend amount of Rs 6000, making it financially unfeasible.
“In other training divisions, the demand drafts are handed to institutional representatives so students can receive them locally. But in the JEE/NEET division, students are being made to travel to Pune without justification,” said Kuttarmare in his complaint.
Students from the 2024–26 batch have also submitted written complaints, claiming that the practice causes significant inconvenience and financial hardship.
The complaint further alleges that Scheduled Caste (SC) students are being subjected to “biased and discriminatory behavior” by Sutar. “It is shocking that in an institution established to uplift students from marginalized communities, an official is allegedly working with a prejudiced mindset,” the letter states.
The organization has urged the Director General to launch an immediate inquiry into the matter and to take disciplinary action against the project manager if the allegations are confirmed.
