Expressing strong objection at the way the House was being run by the ruling party, AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi said it was not proper to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, to give a reply that there was no need of education to the people.
Dubbing the day as a ‘Sad Day’ in the Telangana Legislative Assembly, Akbaruddin called upon the SCs and STs to come forward to raise their voice along with MIM. Alleging that the ruling party was running the House in an undemocratic manner, Akbaruddin advised the ruling party to be tolerant in listening the criticism of the Opposition and it was not proper to run away instead of answering the House. He also alleged that the ruling party took several hours during discussion and gave four-page statements on Fisheries, Monkeys but the same government has failed lend time to the important issues like Fees Reimbursement.
Speaking at the Assembly media point after the adjournment of the Assembly after short discussion on Fees Reimbursement Scheme here on Wednesday, Akbaruddin said his party lodged its protest with the Speaker after the adjournment of the House for not giving chance to clarifications to the Opposition parties. He said the TRS government was running the House against the rules. It was “sad day” that the government, which gave four-page statement on monkey menace and fisheries development, failed to give a full page statement on such an important issue Fees Reimbursement.
He alleged that the Chief Minister has given a false statement in the august house on release of funds to Fees Reimbursement Scheme. He said that the Chief Minister announced that the state government released Rs.1400 crore but in reality it released only Rs.984 crore. He alleged that it is apparent that in 2013-14, Rs.2167 crore was disbursed to 14.44 lakh students towards MTF and RTF. In 2014-15, Rs.2,266 crores was disbursed to 13.84 lakh students. In 2015-16, only Rs.984 crore was released to 14.15 lakh students, indicating that there were huge arrears of Rs.1400crore to be paid to the colleges and students towards MTF and RTF. In the current financial year 2016-17, about 12.97 lakh applications are received but not a single rupee has been released as the verification of the applications is going on.
The State budget has allocated Rs.2,935 crores for MTF and RTF for SCs , STs, BCs, Minorities, Economically Backward Classes and the Disabled. The allocations include Rs.950 crore for SCs, Rs.304 Crores for STs, Rs.1096 crore for BCs, Rs.333 crore for Minorities, Rs.252 crore for EBCs and Rs. one crore for disabled. He said that on account of the enhancement of income ceiling, more students should be covered under MTF and RTF but the fact was that the number of students of SCs, STs, BCs, Minorities, EBCs and Disabled is coming down and questioned the government to tell what are the reasons for this? Except for degree colleges, the number of professional colleges was coming down, including engineering, MBA, MCA, Bed, Law, Pharmacy, Medicine, MTech, and M Pharma. Even the number of junior colleges has come down substantially. This is happening as the colleges are either closing down or they are denied affiliation and permission by the concerned authorities, including the universities and the regulatory bodies like AICTE etc. Another problem was that the scholarships and fees reimbursement were sanctioned only when the student applicants were enrolled in the colleges which were registered under e-pass. There were a large number of colleges which were not confirmed despite registering themselves. He questioned the government what were the norms for approving the names of colleges under e-pass for the award of scholarships and fees reimbursement to the students enrolled.
Alleging that only 7.70 lakh students were registered out of 9.02 lakh eligible students in the state for fees reimbursement, Akbaruddin said that the state government declared that 4700 colleges were eligible for fees reimbursement though the 6091 colleges were registered out of 6954 colleges in the state. He alleged that as per Vigilance report 37 percent of the colleges were not being confirmed for fees reimbursement. “Where to go these students?”, he questioned. Education was primary right of the students and it was not proper to the government to say that there were not jobs and hence there was no need of education. “Don’t link education with jobs”, he suggested the government and asked the Chief Minister not to say that there was no need of education as there were no jobs. “How can the government say like that?”, he questioned. The government was not running on democratic manner, he alleged and said that his party would sit and decided what to do in future against the government. (NSS)