Telangana private colleges announce indefinite closure from September 15

The Federation of Associations of Telangana Higher Educations has called for closure of institutions in protest against inordinate delay in release of fee reinstatement dues.

Hyderabad: Protesting against the delay in release of fee reimbursement arrears by the State government, private professional colleges, including engineering and pharmacy institutions, have announced an indefinite closure from September 15.

The Federation of Associations of Telangana Higher Education (FATHI) submitted a notice to Telangana Council of Higher Education Chairman Prof V Balakista Reddy in Hyderabad on Friday.

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The managements have been demanding release of pending fee reimbursement arrears to the tune of Rs 8,000 crore and sought immediate disbursement of Rs 1,200 crore pertaining to already generated tokens for which budgetary allocation had been made.

“The government must release the amount for which tokens have already been issued by September 18. If released, we will reconsider the closure,” said N Ramesh, Chairman of FATHI.

Due to prolonged delays, colleges said faculty and staff salaries had remained unpaid for several months, forcing many faculty members to struggle even for basic needs.

Instead of resolving the issue, the government has convened a meeting with university vice-chancellors to discuss implementation of a facial recognition-based attendance system linked to the fee reimbursement scheme.

“Private institutions have decided to call for an indefinite closure of colleges with effect from September 15, which also marks the birth anniversary of Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya,” Ramesh added.