Government junior colleges in Telangana are losing their precious resource – land, and also their very existence with landsharks and politicians eyeing them in the name of litigation and development respectively.
The latest that has come under attack is the Government Junior College (GJC) Nagarkurnool where the compound wall was demolished by the municipal officials, apparently under direction from the local politicians to accommodate street-vendors in the altered boundaries. This was done without intimating the college administration or the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE), claim the teachers and students opposing the move.
This is the not the first incident. Similar attempts were made recently in a government junior college in Yadagirigutta of Yadadri district. Some dwellings have come up within the college boundaries with an apparent motive to gradually occupy the land. However, when the student organisations protested, officials demolished the constructions on the directions of Yadadri Collector Anita Ramachandran.
Similar encroachments have also been reported in Achampet, Amrabad, Dindi, amangal, Shadnagar, Wanaparthy, Korutla, Bhongir and several other places in Telangana.
Unlike private colleges, government junior colleges have the precious real estate as the respective governments allotted huge chunks of land outside the towns when the land was cheap and available in abundance. Buildings were constructed leaving enough space for playgrounds and auditoriums. With towns expanding, most of these colleges have now become part of the main city.
“When Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to make Intermediate education free along with books for all admitted students to strengthen the GJCs, it is unfortunate that some officials and politicians are trying to negate that, eyeing the costly lands,” argues Madhusudhan Reddy, Chairman of Intermediate Education JAC.
Pittance as rents
Mr. Reddy further says that several GJCs have commercial establishments on the periphery of the college land but they were constructed with an aim to improve the finances. Such commercial establishments are now being misused as they continue to pay the rents fixed decades ago despite the commercial value increasing. For example, in GJC Peddapalli and GJC Sultanabad shutters were constructed with the participation of then MLAs to rent out to local businessmen and also to create a revenue source for the colleges. In GJC Peddapali 26 business rooms were constructed and 74 were constructed in GJC Sultanabad in 1993. They were initially rented for ₹ 500 each. But even after 30 years they don’t pay more than ₹ 1,500.
“The same in a private building costs not less than ₹ 10,000 each as the towns have grown exponentially and so has the commercial value,” says Mr. Madhusudhan Reddy, who demands that the rental agreements should be reviewed so that money can be used to improve infrastructure in the colleges. The Government Junior Lecturers Association wants the government to protect these lands that can be used for educational purpose as the demand for education in the government sector will only grow with the new initiatives of the TRS government. Efforts to reach out to the BIE officials proved futile.
