Hyderabad: The opposition parties including Congress, BJP, TDP and CPI (M) staged a walkout from the Telangana Legislative Assembly on Wednesday in protest against the State Government’s failure to clear Fee Reimbursement and Scholarships dues.
Speaking on short discussion on the issue, TPCC President and Huzurnagar MLA Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy asked as to why the TRS Government was unable to clear Fee Reimbursement dues of a few thousand crore when the State’s annual budget is of nearly Rs. 1.50 lakh.
Accusing the government of playing with the future of young students, he said the college managements were not releasing original certificates to students due to pending fee arrears.
He alleged that the TRS Government has paid bills worth over Rs. 50,000 crore to different contractors, but it has no money to clear Fee Reimbursement and Scholarship dues.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said the career of nearly 14 lakh students and about three lakh staff of various colleges was put at stake due to the failure of State Government.
He also slammed the TRS Government for closure of several engineering colleges. He said almost 80% of the institutions closed during the TRS regime were Muslim minority institutions.
He reminded that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao had earlier promised on the floor of the House of clearing entire dues of Fee Reimbursement and Scholarships by Ugadi festival. Since the promise remained unfulfilled, he alleged that the Chief Minister did not attend the House today.
The Congress leader asked Finance Minister Etala Rajender to furnish complete break-up of Fee Reimbursement dues cleared by the government during the last three years.
He said the negligence of state government had a negative impact on the careers of lakhs of students belonging to SC, ST, BC, minorities and weaker sections.
BJP floor leader G. Kishan Reddy questioned when 100% Fee Reimbursement was being made to Muslims and Christian students who under are BC-E and BC-C Groups respectively, why the students under BC A, B, and D, who are Hindus, were being denied the same facility.
R. Krishnaiah of TDP and Sunnam Rajaiah of CPI (M) alleged that the government has deliberately diluted the Fee Reimbursement scheme with malafide intention.
However, the Finance Minister denied the allegations and maintained that the educational institution were closed due to lack of proper infrastructure and teaching staff which brought down the quality of education.
But he did not reply to the question whether government colleges and universities too would be closed if they don’t have adequate infrastructure and staff. He blamed the previous Congress regime for Fee Reimbursement dues of Rs. 3800 crores and said that they were being cleared every year.
Etala also refuted the allegation that the government was giving priority to contractors and same response was not being shown towards students.
Not satisfied with the government’s reply, the opposition parties staged a walkout from the House. (INN)