Hyderabad: BRS Legislature Party deputy floor leader T Harish Rao on Sunday launched a sharp attack on the Telangana Congress government, accusing it of jeopardising the futures of thousands of students by failing to clear pending fee reimbursement dues.
Affected students approached Harish Rao and narrated their situation, saying colleges across Telangana are withholding their certificates over unpaid dues. Harish Rao said several graduates who had completed engineering and other degree courses, and had secured jobs with annual packages of Rs 6 lakh to Rs 7 lakh, were unable to join those positions without their certificates. He added that some students also held admission letters for higher education and appointment letters from companies abroad but could not proceed due to the same reason.
Demanding the Chief Minister's immediate intervention, Harish Rao said every rupee spent on a student's education was an investment in Telangana's future and questioned why students from poor families and rural backgrounds should be made to suffer because of the government's failure to release what was rightfully theirs.
He recalled that the fee reimbursement scheme was originally introduced by former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and was continued through the BRS government's tenure because it directly benefited students from economically weaker sections. The previous BRS government, he said, had released Rs 20,576 crore towards fee reimbursement and supported over 1.98 crore students during its time in office.
Harish Rao alleged that the present Congress government was deliberately weakening the scheme and questioned its commitment to SC, ST, BC and minority students who depend on it the most. He also accused the government of choosing to prioritise other expenditures while leaving student fee dues pending.
Referring to remarks that the Chief Minister had reportedly made, calling engineering students a "criminal waste", Harish Rao pointed out that the very same students had gone on to secure positions at global companies through their own merit and hard work. He demanded immediate release of the pending amounts to all eligible beneficiaries.
