Hyderabad: At a time when managements are fighting for fee reimbursement dues, the 205 crore issued towards fee reimbursement of ST students, went back to the Centre after the state govt failed to give a matching grant.The state was supposed to give its share of about 68 crore towards the said grant but failed to release it by March 31. The state has now been asked to give an explanation.“It is unfortunate that govt is letting go of funds given by the central govt. One, they are not giving managements their due from their own treasury. Two, they are depriving ST children of funds from the central govt as well. This might be happening for the first time in Telangana,” said a member of the Federation of Associations of Telangana Higher Education Institutions (FATHI).They said that if the state had given its share of the grant, the central govt would have given 205.8 crore, which would have benefited 11 lakh ST students.“This amount will lapse now and will not be carried forward. If they had released the amount on time, the fees of over 10 lakh students would have been cleared for a full academic year,” said the management of an engineering college, adding that in the past three years, the govt has hardly paid 900 crore of 7,500 crore.Officials from the tribal welfare department, meanwhile, said that the state will be sending an explanation soon to the central govt to get the funds back. “This amount is for students’ fees. We will get the money back from the Centre,” the official added.
