Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has outrightly rejected the attempt of his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu to make Telangana share the burden of fee reimbursement scheme.
Reacting to Naidu’s offer that Andhra Pradesh was willing to bear the 58 per cent of the scheme if Telangana pays 42 per cent fee, KCR said that it was not possible. He said that the Telangana Government will follow the guidelines of Supreme Court on this issue.
“We are not willing to pay the fee of non-local students. If we pay the fee of Andhra Pradesh students, then other States will also make the same demand for the students studying in Telangana,” KCR said on Friday. He was addressing a meeting of the Revenue Department officials in Hyderabad.
KCR said that only eligible students will be reimbursed the fee and asked the officials not to issue the certificates indiscriminately. He asked them to be cautious in issuing the nativity, caste and income certificates. “If you issue wrong certificates, stringent action will be taken”, the Chief Minister said. “The mistakes committed by previous Governments will not be repeated my Government”.
He assured that not a single genuine Telangana student will be made to suffer.
On the scheme of allotting three acres of land for every Dalit family, the Chief Minister said that he was not in a hurry and the scheme will be implemented carefully to make it great success.
Earlier Chandrababu Naidu had told the media in Hyderabad that the students were suffering because of Telangana Government’s move to replace the fee reimbursement scheme with Financial Assistance for Students of Telangana or FAST. “Several students have already left for other States or leaving because of the inordinate delay in counseling for admission in engineering and medical colleges”, Naidu said.
Referring to the division of liabilities between the two states in the ratio of 58:42, Naidu said that Telangana government can pay 42 per cent of the fee of the Andhra Pradesh students studying in Telangana and remaining AP Government will pay.
Naidu pleaded with KCR not to treat Andhra Pradesh as an enemy State and not to drag the issue any further. “I want both the States to prosper”, he said.
Apart from KCR, his two other key Ministers son K Taraka Rama Rao and nephew T Harish Rao have also come down heavily on Naidu’s offer. “It is nothing but political arm twisting”, said Harish Rao.
“TRS Government is clear on paying 100 per cent fee of its students. Similarly Andhra Pradesh should pay the fee of its students”, said Taraka Rama Rao, Minister for Information Technology.
Telangana State Government maintains that if its pays the fee for all the students of engineering, medical and other professional courses, it will put a burden of Rs 4,000 crore.
Hence it was planning to change the scheme to plug the loopholes and stop misuse of the scheme. It argues that man bogus colleges were benefiting in the name of fee reimbursement scheme.
KTR described Naidu’s statements on the issue as an interference in the affairs of Telangana. On the other hand Andhra Pradesh Minister for Social Welfare R Kishore Babu expressed apprehension that the issue of nativity will not stop with the fee scheme. “There are fears that the same approach will be adopted in matter of jobs and education”.
He said that Chandrababu Naidu will write a letter to the Prime Minister Modi on this issue and will also raise the matter personally before President Pranab Mukherji when he arrives here on Saturday.
He said that Naidu had sought an appointment with Telangana Chief Minister KCR to discuss the issue, but it was not granted so far.