TS govt set to increase mess charges for students by 25%

Hyderabad: The state government is all set to significantly hike diet charges (mess charges) for students in government welfare hostels by 25 per cent after a gap of nearly seven years.  

Ministers T. Harish Rao, Satyavathy Rathod and Gangula Kamalakar held a meeting with officials on Wednesday in this regard and submitted recommendations enhancing diet charges by 25 per cent to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. The CM is expected to give his nod in a day or two.

The decision will impose an additional Rs 275 crore burden per month on the state government. The diet charges were last revised in 2016.

At present, students from Class III to VII were being paid Rs 950 per month, from Class XIII to Class X were being paid Rs 1,100 per month and from Intermediate to postgraduation level, Rs 1,500 per month.

The ministers' committee has recommended to hike this amount to Rs 1,200, Rs 1,400 and Rs 1,875 respectively to the above three categories of students.

At present, the government is spending Rs 1,054 crore per month on diet charges. With the 25 per cent increase, the expenditure will increase to Rs 1,329 crore per month. This will translate into an additional burden of Rs 275 crore per month and Rs 3,302 crore per year.

The hike will benefit 8,59,959 students in 3,214 government welfare hostels across the state, who include 2,43,673 students in 1,136 SC welfare hostels, 2,15,934 students in 812 ST welfare hostels, 2,46,299 students in 1,013 BC welfare hostels, 1,30,549 students in 316 minority welfare hostels and 23,504 students in 37 general hostels.