Don't play with the lives of poor students, Uttam tells KCR

Hyderabad, Oct.21: In a strongly worded statement, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy warned Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao against playing with the lives and careers of poor students in the State. He was speaking after launching the signature campaign seeking immediate clearance of Fee Reimbursement dues at Shamshabad on Friday. The meeting, organized by National Students Union of India (NSUI) and Youth Congress, was attended by nearly 10,000 students. Uttam Kumar Reddy said it was strange that the Chief Minister places Telangana among richest states in the country and also introduces a budget of Rs. 1.30 lakh crore for the year 2016-17, but he hesitates to release just Rs. 3,000 Crore towards Fee Reimbursement dues. "He is openly playing with the lives of poor and deserving students. While the poorest of poor parents gave the highest education to their children during Congress regime due to universal Fee Reimbursement policy, TRS Government's anti-student policy is forcing lakhs of students to discontinue their studies. This is criminal negligence and highly intolerable," he said. Uttam Kumar Reddy said that Telangana State became a reality only due to the sacrifices and struggle of students. However, he alleged that KCR was suppressing the students and playing with the lives and careers of over 14 lakh students by stopping Fee Reimbursement payments. He reminded that the Chief Minister had given a clear assurance in the State Legislative Assembly in March this year that all pending dues of Fee Reimbursement would be cleared and the monthly payments would be made from April onwards. "KCR has no value for his own words or any respect towards Assembly. He went back on his promise and did not clear a single rupee towards Fee Reimbursement dues," he said. He said managements of private intermediate, degree, PG, engineering, pharmacy, management and other colleges have represented to the Congress party that 3,200 private colleges in the State are on the verge of closure due to non-clearance of Fee Reimbursement dues. He also said that about 2.5 lakh lecturers and other staff of these private colleges had not been paid salaries for the last six months. He reminded KCR that the universal Fee Reimbursement Scheme introduced by the previous Congress Governments was the only one of its kind in the country. The TPCC Chief said that NSUI and Youth Congress activists would collect filled in "Application Forms" from students of all educational institutions across Telangana State and the same would be forwarded to the Chief Minister and Governor seeking immediate clearance of Fee Reimbursement dues. Further, he said these applications would be handed over AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, who is visiting Hyderabad on December 2, and he would take up the issue with the President of India. AICC secretary in-charge of the Congress party affairs in the State RC Kuntia said the Telangana State was carved out with the student force. KCR would pay the price in case he under-estimated the power of the students, he warned. Former minister DK Aruna has alleged that the TRS government was adopting “suppressive” attitude towards students, who were questioning the government on fees reimbursement scheme. She said KCR was concentrating only on family earnings and was not bothered about the problems of the students and unemployed youth. She questioned KCR to tell whether the State was happy if he alone was happy. “KCR is in colorful dreams”, she claimed. She asked KCR to look at the problems of the people instead of looking at a ginger crop in his farm house. The meeting was also addressed by SC Department Chairman Koppula Raju, former Minister P. Sabitha Indira Reddy, NSUI Telangana president Balmoori Venkat Narsing Rao, Youth Congress president Anil Kumar Yadav and other senior leaders. TPCC Vice-President Dr. Mallu Ravi, Congress legislators Rammohan Reddy, Vamshichand Reddy, A. Sampath Kumar, M. Ranga Reddy, ex-MLAs Sudhir Reddy, Mallareddy Rangareddy, Pratap Reddy, Kuna Srisailam Goud, Ranga Reddy DCC president Mallesh Yadav and other leaders were also present.