Harish Rao Slams Congress Over Fee Reimbursement And Job Promises
Former minister and BRS MLA T Harish Rao on Saturday accused the Congress government of doing “grave injustice” to students and youth during its nearly three years in power, alleging that several key promises on education, employment and welfare remain unfulfilled.
Addressing a large protest by students and youth at the Siddipet Old Bus Stand, Harish Rao alleged that fee reimbursement payments had not been released for three years, leaving thousands of SC, ST and BC students struggling to continue their education. He cited students of Sri Krupa Pharmacy College in Gajwel, claiming that unpaid fees had resulted in certificates being withheld, putting their admission to M.Pharmacy courses at risk.
Harish Rao said the previous BRS government had spent about ₹2,000 crore annually on fee reimbursement, including during the COVID-19 period, and claimed that nearly ₹20,000 crore was spent over a decade to help poor students become engineers, doctors and other professionals. He also claimed that the BRS government had cleared ₹2,000 crore in fee arrears left by the earlier Congress regime.
He alleged that 300 private degree colleges across Telangana, including five in Siddipet, had closed because of fee-related dues. He also criticised the government for failing to provide two sets of uniforms to government-school students even three months into the academic year.
On technical education, Harish Rao alleged that the government was pushing three-year polytechnic courses towards privatisation under a PPP model through the Skill University. He demanded the immediate withdrawal of GO 97, which he said was creating difficulties for polytechnic students.
Turning to employment, he accused Congress of failing to honour its promise of providing two lakh jobs in its first year and described its job calendar as a “jobless calendar”. He claimed the BRS government had filled 1.62 lakh government posts, compared with around 16,000 under Congress.
Harish Rao also alleged that promises including ₹2,500 monthly assistance for women, ₹4,000 pensions for senior citizens, scooters for girls and one tola of gold for marriages remained unfulfilled. He demanded Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s resignation, alleging failure to implement the six guarantees.
He said the BRS had established medical, nursing, pharmacy, agriculture, polytechnic, ITI and women's degree colleges in Siddipet and alleged that work on the ₹200-crore veterinary college at Duddeda had been stalled.
With the Assembly session beginning September 7, Harish Rao said the BRS would raise fee reimbursement and GO 97 in the House and warned against police action against protesting students.