Hyderabad, June 21: Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Monday gave the nod to the Finance Department to immediately release Rs 1,000 crore towards fee reimbursement and scholarships for students.
Revealing this to media persons, Minister for Social Welfare Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose informed that the government has already released Rs 512 crore from the Rs 2,083 crore set aside for fee reimbursement and scholarships to students.
Mr Bose said that the government would hold a meeting within a day or two with the managements of various colleges to work out a timeframe by which the pending funds for fee reimbursement could be released.
He said that Chief Minister K Rosaiah had instructed the Finance Department to release Rs 1,000 crore with immediate effect for fee reimbursement and scholarships and the remaining Rs 572 crore would be released by August 15, this year.
Mr Bose said that the release of funds prove that the Chief Minister is not against the Backward Classes. He said that Mr Rosaiah had been regularly updating himself and working on ways to clear the fee reimbursement funds.
He appealed to the media persons to think twice before speculating on the reasons behind the delay in clearing funds for fee reimbursements.
Mr Bose said that the state has witnessed almost continuous natural calamities like floods, cyclones and drought.
He said that the Telangana issue has also affected revenue generation on the exchequer and this has led to delays in reimbursing fees.
Minister for Minority Welfare Mohammed Ahmedullah Syed and Tribal Welfare Minister Balaraju were also present at the press conference.
—INN—