Hyderabad: Despite the Telangana government’s lofty promises to build engineering colleges in every district, only 12 such colleges were set up so far.
According to an RTI petition filed by Rajesh Aleti, the government had spent less funds than what were allocated to government colleges in six out of the past eight academic years. The RTI query revealed that four of the 12 newly established colleges are located in the Hyderabad district, two each in Rangareddy, Vikarabad, and Kumaram Bheem, one each in Medchal-Malkajgiri and Nalgonda, and one in Rangareddy district.
The RTI response also revealed that, over the last eight years, spending on government colleges has only twice exceeded budget estimates in 2019-20 and 2020-21. With an estimated budget of Rs 506.98 crore for 2021-22, the amount spent until February 28, 2022 was Rs 423 crore.
The data also shows a decreasing trend in the estimated budgets. The budgets for the last three years have ranged from Rs 38.3 crore to Rs 50.7 crore, which is significantly less than the budgets for the previous two years, which were both over Rs 600 crore.
According to the RTI reply, Telangana has 117 government degree colleges, all of which are concentrated in 10 districts. Shockingly, classes were still being held in rented buildings at two colleges in Wardhannapet and Mahabubabad districts.
“Despite the government’s lofty claims, existing colleges lack adequate infrastructure and staff. The government has ignored promises made in its 2014 and 2019 manifestos such as KG to PG free education, a government engineering college for every district, a polytechnic college for every Assembly constituency, and an inter and degree college for every mandal.” he noted.
