Hyderabad: The Telangana state government is in a dilemma over who should be given priority — students or farmers. The government is under pressure to clear the fee dues of students and as well as crop loan arrears for farmers
It cannot do both due to the huge financial implications. The government owes Rs 2,500 crore fee arrears of 14 lakh students to colleges and Rs 4,250 crore crop loan arrears of 32 lakh farmers to banks.
The government is under pressure to clear these dues in April and May since the ongoing academic year is about to end and colleges are refusing to issue certificates to students till fee arrears are cleared.
On the other hand, the kharif season for crops will begin in June and if the government fails to pay banks by May, the banks will stop disbursal of fresh crop loans to farmers, already hit by two consecutive droughts.
Despite the government releasing thousands of crores to colleges during the last two years, the government still owes over Rs 2,500 crore for this year since the funds released earlier were adjusted towards clearing previous arrears.
The Telangana state government has released nearly Rs 10,500 crore for fee reimbursement since it assumed office in June 2014. However, all these funds were adjusted towards payment of previous arrears, according to sources.
Of funds released, Rs 1,349 crore was adjusted for 2011-12 arrears, Rs 1,691 crore for 2012-13 arrears, Rs 1,811 crore for 2013-14 arrears and Rs 5,577 crore for 2015-16.
For 2015-16 academic year, over 14.02 lakh have applied for fee reimbursement but the government is yet to release a single rupee, though the academic year is about to end.
Students are agitating across the state for fee arrears since colleges are harassing them by not allowing them to appear for exams. Their original certificates are being withheld till the fee is paid.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has asked the finance department to prioritise fee reimbursement scheme, clearing all the fee arrears by this month-end by scouting all the available options so that the government can pay fee every month or quarter from new academic year 2016-17.
The department has replied that if this is done, it would be difficult to adjust Rs 4,250 crore for crop loan arrears. It has sought the advice of the government about who should be given the priority first — students or farmers.
