Congress, BJP stage walk-out in Telangana Assembly over fee issue

Hyderabad: The opposition Congress and BJP today staged a walk-out of Telangana Assembly on the issues of tuition fee reimbursement scheme and quality of education in engineering colleges.

During an extensive discussion, Congress MLA T Jeevan Reddy, BJP floor leader K Laxman and MLA G Kishan Reddy alleged that the TRS government was watering down the fee reimbursement scheme that had benefited thousands of poor students in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.

The government had delayed the admission process and lecturers in private colleges were not getting salaries (as funds had not been released), they alleged as they walked out in protest.

Deputy Chief Minister K Srihari strongly denied any watering down of the reimbursement scheme and said that 16 lakh students had benefited from it this year.

The government was trying to ensure that standards in private engineering colleges did not fall, he added.

Observing that it is not easy to run a college, MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi suggested that the government hold a meeting with the managements of private engineering colleges to address the issue.