As the Russian embassy rakes up cash shortage issue after demonetisation, foreign students of Osmania University face a similar problem unable to remit their fee to the university and also meet their domestic needs.
About 30 per cent of remittances are affected as students are unable to withdraw money or even pay through demand drafts created online due to several internal issues, one of those being students not holding bank accounts with the university recognised State Bank of Hyderabad.
Most of these students are from war-torn countries like Sudan, Syria, Iraq and a few others where money transfer is delayed due to unfavourable situation prevailing in their countries. “Yes, our students are affected and they are unable to pay the fee,” agreed G.B. Reddy, Director of University Foreign Relations Office (UFRO), Osmania University, that oversees the admissions of foreign students.
“I received an amount equivalent of Rs. 50,000 from my country, but unable to pay owing to restrictions on cash withdrawals,” said Muhammed, a student from Iraq pursuing undergraduate course here. “Bank managers are refusing to give us money citing the new norms,” he said. A girl student who had to pay Rs. 1.90 lakh fee for her engineering course had to visit the bank several times over the last month to get the money and make a demand draft.
In fact, some students are also refused money to meet their day-to-day requirements due to lack of identification proof. Since the passports of Iraqis are in Arabic, bank managers are refusing to entertain them. Even their university ID cards are not taken into consideration. “In such cases, we are certifying the students and issuing a letter for easy identification,” Prof. Reddy said.
Since it was not mandatory to have a bank account earlier, many students without accounts are facing problems now. “Generally, these students used to receive cash from their countries through Western Union outlets. Now they are issuing only cheques,” says Emmanuel Omurunga from Kenya, former President of African Students’ Union.
This LLB student from OU says house owners are forcing them to pay in cash only. “The ATMs are shut and banks have long queues. I know some students who have just Rs. 100 in their pocket. The government should relax norms for foreign students,” he says.
Absence of payment gateways linked to the UFRO account from its bankers is also denying students to pay online. “We are in consultations with Axis Bank for creating a payment gateway and that would address all our future payments as well,” said an official of the university.
