Telangana’s Private Colleges on Indefinite Strike Over Fee Issue From Today
Vigilance officials likely to raid colleges over irregularities in fee scheme
Hyderabad: Vigilance and enforcement officials are likely to carry out raids on private colleges in connection with financial irregularities under the fee reimbursement scheme. Sources said that the officials have already obtained information about the diversion of fee reimbursement funds by private colleges into other accounts.
However, the Federation of Associations of Telangana Higher Institutions (FATHI) on Sunday said it would not be deterred by the vigilance raids or their consequences and would continue their protest until the dues were cleared by the government.
The federation has also announced an indefinite strike from Monday across the state, demanding payment of pending fee reimbursement dues.
As part of the protest, FATHI members will meet ministers, MLAs, and MPs to submit representations on November 4. The members will meet at least one lakh teachers from private colleges on November 6, and college managements will take out a rally to the Secretariat on November 10.
“If the government does not respond, we will lay siege to the houses of ministers, MLAs, and MPs in Telangana. The government is threatening us with vigilance raids, but we are not afraid,” said FATHI member A. Srinivasa Rao.
He alleged that the government had recently assured the private colleges that it would release Rs 1,200 crore by Deepavali. However, only Rs 300 crore was released towards the pending fee reimbursement dues.
The federation has taken this issue seriously and demanded that the remaining dues be released immediately to enable the colleges to function properly. The government had earlier promised to clear Rs 10,000 crore under the fee reimbursement scheme.
The government had last week ordered a comprehensive inspection of all private educational institutions and colleges receiving post-matric scholarship funds under the reimbursement of tuition fee (RTF) and maintenance fee (MTF) schemes. The vigilance and enforcement (V&E) wing has been tasked with conducting these inspections to detect any misuse of fee-reimbursement funds and to ensure that money meant for poor and disadvantaged students is being utilised.
The V&E teams will inspect professional colleges offering engineering, pharmacy, MBA, MCA, and B.Ed courses, as well as degree and postgraduate colleges across Telangana. The inspections will be carried out with the support of the Director-General of police, the CID, ACB, Intelligence, and the police commissionerates of Hyderabad, Cyberabad, Rachakonda, and Warangal.
