Harish Rao Slams Revanth Government’s Negligent Attitude on ‘Fee Reimbursement’ Issue

Hyderabad: Former Minister Harish Rao on Sunday slammed Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s government for its negligent and deceitful attitude regarding the ‘fee reimbursement’ issue.

He criticised the government, stating that it was shameful for the Revanth administration to remain silent even though private educational institutions had been demanding the release of fee reimbursement funds for the past two years. “Due to the negligence of the Congress government, degree, PG, pharmacy, B.Ed., MBA, MCA, and engineering institutions across the state are on the verge of closure.

The future of nearly 13 lakh students has become uncertain. If even semester exams are being postponed, what exactly is the Chief Minister, who also holds the Education portfolio, doing? Why is he remaining silent despite private educational institutions announcing protests, hunger strikes, and indefinite bandhs from Monday?” he asked.

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Harish Rao made it clear that neither the managements of private educational institutions nor students were satisfied with the statement given by State Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka during a meeting held on Saturday in Hyderabad. “How is it that money is unavailable for paying salaries and clearing fee reimbursements, yet funds are being channelled into the Chief Minister’s pet projects?

How can the Chief Minister, who claimed he had no money to pay DAs to government employees, suddenly call for tenders’ worth lakhs of crores?” he questioned, pointing out that the government has decided to call for ₹20,000 crore tenders for Future City and ₹7,000 crore tenders for lifting Godavari water from Mallanna Sagar to the Musi River.

He alleged that Revanth Reddy was pushing tenders worth ₹2.5 lakh crore only to collect commissions. “Don’t you care about students’ education? Don’t you think about the hardships faced by educational institutions? When I confronted the government in the Assembly about fee reimbursement, the government shamelessly broke its promise.

It had assured that arrears would be released in instalments and cleared within the year. During the BRS government, fee reimbursement never stopped — not even during economic crises like demonetisation and the Covid-19 pandemic. In the nine and a half years of former CM KCR’s rule, ₹20,000 crore was paid for fee reimbursement,” he said.

“After the Congress came to power, the situation worsened. With arrears piling up, educational institutions are unable to function. Already, half the junior and degree colleges in the state have been closed. Electricity and water connections are being cut due to non-payment of bills, and management is in distress as they cannot pay salaries to employees,” he added.