Rs 500 crore allocated for basic amenities in versities

HYDERABAD: For the first time, Finance minister T. Harish Rao allocated Rs 500 crore to state universities to develop basic amenities such as modernisation of hostels and construction of new buildings.

The State Budget proposed Rs 100 crore each for the Telangana Mahila Viswavidyalayam (Women’s University) and Forest College. In total, the Budget allocated Rs 19,093 crore for the education sector. For scholarships and diet, the government allocated Rs 5,609 crore for 2023-24 against Rs 4,690 crore last year.

The allocation of grants for residential schools was incrased to 3,400 crore, against Rs 784 crore in the initial years of the state.

He said polytechnic colleges will be established at Maheshwaram in Ranga Reddy district and at Manuguru in Bhadradri Kothagudem district.

Harish Rao said two engineering colleges under the jurisdiction of the JNTU-Hyderabad would begin operating at Mahbubnagar and Kothagudem. Keeping in view the development of the pharma sector in Telangana, University College of Pharmaceutical Sciences affiliated to JNTU-Hyderabad has been established in Sultanpur, he added.

Reacting to the Budget, Dr G. Haragopal, former professor and Dean, School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH), pointed out that the current Vudget allocation was only six per cent of the Budget outlay, whereas it used to be 11 per cent in undivided Andhra Pradesh. He said Rs 7,000 crore was given to school education but there was no mention of KG to PG free education. “This is an election budget, where allocations were made for welfare schemes to garner,” he said.