Private Colleges To Strike From Friday Over Fee Reimbursement Dues  

Hyderabad: Demanding clearance of fee reimbursement dues to the tune of Rs 670 crore private colleges managements are planning to go on strike from October 14.

Incidentally, the supplementary exams of the degree colleges will begin from the same date - October 14. Meanwhile, semester exams will commence from November 14.

The supplementary exams for the degree colleges of Kakatiya University will start from October 14, Osmania University from October 15, Mahatma Gandhi University from October 18, Sathavahana University from October 24 and Palamuru University from first week of November.

President of Telangana Private Degree and PG Colleges Managements Association Ramana Reddy explaining the severity of the issue said that many times they had met Finance Minister and Finance Secretary but they didn't pay any heed to their pleas.

He further said that dues have been pending for the academic years 2014-15 and 2015-16 and only Rs 275 crore has been released by the government in June this year.

"We asked the government to clear the dues to private degree colleges in three installments with a gap of two months between each installment, but the government had not responded to it," he said.

No strike notice has been served by the private college managements, but Ramana said that they have informed orally about the strike. However, the government hasn't responded so far.

"Government owes Rs 5,000 crore to the colleges in the form of fee reimbursement to 14 lakh students pursuing engineering, medical, degree, post-graduate degree and intermediate courses," Ramana said.