Hyderabad: The Telangana state government is planning to mortgage prime properties belonging to the Backward Classes department with banks to mobilise funds to clear its fee reimbursement arrears.
BC department officials are thus busy listing out properties owned by it in Hyderabad and in district headquarters. The TRS government is facing a backlash from Opposition parties and student organisations over the Rs 3,000-crore fee arrears of last two years. Of this, more than 60 per cent arrears are for BCs.
While the finance department does not have adequate funds to clear the arrears, the BC department owns prime properties in the city and districts, and the government is planning to mortgage them with banks to raise about Rs 2,000 crore.
Former CM N. Kiran Kumar Reddy had made an attempt in this rega-rd earlier in 2012 but had backtracked after stiff opposition from BC organisations. For 2014-15, out of the 13.84 lakh students who had applied for fee reimbursement in the state, BCs accounted for 7.57 lakh and EBCs 1.01 lakh. For 2015-16, out of the total 14.15 lakh students, BCs comprised 7.79 lakh and EBCs one lakh.
Despite the government imposing several restrictions on fee rei-mbursement by tightening the eligibility norms to reduce its financial burden, it still owes Rs 3,000 crore in arrears. This year (2016-17), 5.23 lakh students have already applied. Of this, BCs comprise 2.87 lakh and EBCs 49,000.
The due date to submit applications have been extended till November-end and the government expects the applications to touch 14.50 lakh, for which it needs another Rs 3,000 crore. The Congress meanwhile has launched a signature campaign to highlight delay in fee reimbursement.
