PUTRAJAYA, Sept 1 — The Malaysian Indians Transformation Unit (Mitra) is still open to receiving applications for the one-time RM2,000 university fee subsidy until September 15, said its special task force committee chairman Datuk R. Ramanan.

He said, the assistance is aimed at helping 10,000 students in the second, third and final years of bachelor’s degrees for both public and private Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL).

At a press conference on the status of the subsidy under Mitra here today, Ramanan said 8,583 applications have been received as at August 31 since it was opened in May and a proportion of them have been processed and credited into the students’ Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) accounts.

"The requirements are simple, they just need to be from the B40 group and have an active student status at an institution of higher learning,” he said, adding that applications can be submitted through https://www.mitra.gov.my/index.php/bm/utama.

Updating on Mitra’s dialysis subsidy, that is targeting 900 chronic kidney patients, Ramanan said the Unit has received 749 applications from 135 dialysis centres, and 813 individuals as at the deadline on August 30.

As of today, the applications of 140 patients from 19 dialysis centres have been approved amounting to RM1.08 million.

Overall, Mitra’s dialysis subsidy involves an allocation of RM8.64 million at a subsidy of RM200 per session, covering four payments per month annually.

"The release of funds for this initiative is rather slow as there are several constraints faced by Mitra, such as double applications and applicants who are already receiving dialysis assistance from other agencies,which we are working on to resolve” said Ramanan.

As for the Drone Operations and Data Services and Electrified Automation Advancement Programme (EAAP) costing RM4.3 million, he said the unit has received more than 500 applications from Indian youths, and eligible candidates will start training at the end of this month.

On the Private Kindergarten Early Education (Tamil) subsidy programme registered under the Ministry of Education with an allocation of RM10.8 million, he said as of August 31, Mitra has signed agreements with 107 kindergartens and is in the process of releasing the funds for 38 kindergartens.

The programme involves 145 kindergartens with 3,916 pupils, who will each receive a subsidy of RM200 per month to cover fees and breakfast for a year, which will be paid directly to the kindergartens. — Bernama