Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Telangana unit president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar, on Monday, has called for an immediate release of ₹4,000 crore fee reimbursement, pending for the last two years, to the needy students in view of the next academic year commencing from next week,
In an open letter to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the BJP leader said students belonging to the socially and economically backward sections, including those belonging to the SC/ST/BCs, altogether numbering 14 lakh, have been facing great difficulties in view of the inordinate delay in reimbursement of the tuition fees.
Private colleges have been asking the students to pay up in view of the delay and in many cases, those pursuing engineering, pharmacy, MBA, degree and post-graduate courses are being denied certificates by the management of the respective colleges till the entire course fee is paid, he pointed out.
Those in the second and third year of college too are not spared this pressure with the assurance that once the government releases the money, the fee will be returned to the student concerned, he claimed. The BJP president stated that most of those eligible for fee reimbursement belong to the poor and are not in a position to pay any advance fee to the college managements and hence are being told to not attend classes and this was a most unfortunate development.
Students, who have obtained seats in PG, those who have got jobs within the country and abroad and others, too are under duress because the certificates are being withheld, he said and also pointed out that most of the private colleges are unable to financially sustain themselves and pay salaries to their staff with the government not releasing the dues on time.
The party has demanded the government to provide “full reimbursement” to the BC/EBC class students along with those of SC/ST/Minorities students and also remove the engineering rank stipulation to become eligible for the scheme. Mr. Sanjay Kumar said the party will launch an agitation in support of the affected students if the the TRS government does not release the funds for the scheme, the letter added.
