Cong, BJP walk-out on Engineering Colleges

Hyderabad, March 17 (INN): The MLAs of Congress and BJP staged a walk-out from the Telangana Legislative Assembly on Tuesday citing State Government's failure to give a convincing reply on the closure of engineering colleges in the State.

The walkout was preceded by a heated debate for over an hour on the issue during Question Hour. Replying to a question raised by MLAs Dr K Lakshman (BJP), G Kishan Reddy (BJP), Akbaruddin Owaisi (MIM), Ryaga Krishnaiah (TDP), D K Aruna (Congress), Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka (Congress) and others, Deputy Chief Minister (Education) Kadiam Srihari admitted that of 176,770 engineering seats in the State, nearly one lakh are lying vacant. However, he said that the Education Department had no report on some engineering colleges misusing the fee reimbursement scheme. He also denied reports that nearly 80 engineering colleges are going to be closed from the next academic year.

Dissatisfied with the Deputy CM's reply, Lakshman said that the State Government was making generic statements on the fake engineering colleges. Referring to the statements made by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on several occasions, he asked the government to furnish the list of colleges which are operating from poultry or dairy farms. He also wanted the government to name the colleges which were involved in fee reimbursement scam.

Replying to the query, Kadiam admitted that many colleges were not maintaining standard and were found to be violating the AICTE and JNTU norms. He said that the State Government was taking action those colleges to restore the image of Telangana State. He said 163 colleges, offering 814 courses, were de-recognised by the JNTU for violating of norms. However, the managements approached the court and on Supreme Court's directions a fact-finding committee was formed. He said that the Supreme Court had directed the State Government to submit enquiry report by December 31, 2014, although the third report on the issue is yet to be submitted. He also informed that criminal cases have been registered against 16 colleges for violation of norms. He said many colleges did not fulfill the mandatory conditions of AICTE like built-up area, qualified faculties, modern labs, library and computers.

Speaking on the issue, MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi claimed that nearly 50 engineering colleges have approached the JNTU to surrender their permissions. He sought to know the steps that the government proposes to take to protect the future of second and third year students after the closure of those colleges. He advised the government to conduct the meeting with the representatives of minority and non-minority colleges on the issue. He said nearly 30 colleges, which were derecognized, have adhered to the norms. However, their de-recognition was not cancelled. He said the colleges should be given an opportunity to rectify the lapses.

Meanwhile, the Deputy CM made it clear that the government does not intend to close the colleges, but want to make them follow all the norms. He said only 10 colleges had approached the JNTU to surrender their permission. He said that the government would speak to existing students and take a final decision.

BJP MLA G Kishan Reddy pointed out that while the government was targeting private colleges, it was not taking any steps to improve the standards in government colleges. He said that government colleges do not 650 faculty members and there is no Vice-Chancellor in most of the Universities. He also accused the government of not releasing funds under Fee Reimbursement Scheme.

Congress MLA P Ajay Kumar asked the government to take action against the managements if they were operating from the poultry farms. He said by repeatedly making such allegations, the government was hurting the self-respect of students studying in those colleges while defaming the Telangana State.

Denying the allegations, Kadiam Srihari said that the government has released Rs 1,587 crore for nearly 12 lakh students.

Not satisfied with the Deputy CM's reply, the Congress and BJP members staged a walk out from the House.