Private professional colleges in Telangana plan strike again over fee reimbursement issue

Hyderabad, Oct 1 (IANS) Private professional colleges in Telangana have again threatened to go on an indefinite strike to demand the release of fee reimbursement arrears by the state government.

Federation of Associations of Telangana Higher Education (FATHI) on Wednesday set an October 12 deadline for the government to release the arrears.

After a meeting of FATHI, its chairman N. Ramesh Babu announced that if arrears were not cleared by October 12, the colleges will go on an indefinite strike from October 13.

The colleges, including engineering, pharma, nursing, MBA, MCA and B.Ed colleges had launched an indefinite strike on September 15, but following the assurance from the government they called off the strike the same day.

FATHI said Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who led the group of ministers in the talks with them, had given an assurance that Rs. 600 crore will be released on September 21-22 towards fee reimbursement arrears but only Rs.200 crore have been released.

Referring to the government’s assurance to release Rs.1,200 crore arrears by Diwali, FATHI leaders demanded that the government make a statement on how it is going to do this.

They also made it clear that further talks on arrears would be held only with the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).

They also stated that, if necessary, they would undertake ‘Chalo Hyderabad’ protest along with the students.

The Association withdrew the indefinite strike on September 15 after talks with a group of ministers led by Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka.

He had announced after talks that keeping in mind the problems faced by the managements of colleges and future of the students studying in these colleges, the government responded positively.

“Though it’s a financial burden, the government decided to immediately release Rs.600 crore towards fee reimbursement arrears for which tokens were issued,” he said.

Vikramarka, who holds the Finance portfolio, gave the assurance that pending dues would be cleared in a phased manner.

Blaming the previous BRS government for huge pending dues, the Deputy CM announced that a committee will be constituted for rationalisation of the fee reimbursement scheme.

Ministers Sridhar Babu and Uttam Kumar Reddy also participated in the talks.

Earlier, on September 12, FATHI had submitted a notice to Telangana Council of Higher Education Chairman, Prof V. Balakista Reddy.

According to the Federation, fee reimbursement arrears to the tune of Rs.10,000 crore are pending. It said if the government releases Rs.1,200 crore pertaining to already generated tokens, they will reconsider their decision to indefinitely close the colleges.

--IANS

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