Telangana private colleges announce ‘Chalo Hyderabad’ over fee dues

The private professional colleges have planned to organise ‘Chalo Hyderabad’ with lakhs of students, parents, teaching and non-teaching staff in the first week of November

Hyderabad: Intensifying protest against Telangana Congress government over fee reimbursement dues, the private professional colleges are planning to organise ‘Chalo Hyderabad’ with lakhs of students, parents, teaching and non-teaching staff in the first week of November.

The Federation of Associations of Telangana Higher Education (FATHI) comprising private professional colleges has already put State government on institutions closure notice, commencing November 3, if their fee dues to the tune of Rs 900 crore are not released by November 1.

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According to the FATHI, the government assured to release Rs 1,200 crore towards fee reimbursement dues by Diwali, but only Rs 300 crore has been released, leaving a balance of Rs 900 crore pending.

This partial release of money, as per the colleges, triggered widespread distress among institutions, leading to severe pressure from faculty, staff, vendors, and building owners who have been waiting for months for their payments.

Meanwhile, the FATHI representatives on Thursday met Union Minister Bandi Sanjay and BJP MP K Laxman over the issue and sought their support.

The managements of professional colleges lamented that they were unable to pay salaries to their teaching and non-teaching staff due to non-payment of fee dues to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore that have been pending for the last four years.

There are about 2,500 private educational institutions in the State, covering 15 lakh students pursuing engineering, pharmacy, B.Ed, nursing and other professional programmes, they said, adding that majority of the students depend on fee reimbursement and cannot afford to pay fees on their own.