Private Engineering Colleges in Telangana leave faculty in lurch

Hyderabad: An SMS flashed on the mobile phone of Raman (name changed), an Assistant Professor in an engineering college, while busy clarifying doubts online to his students.

"First, I thought a sum of Rs 4,600 credited to my account was the honorarium due for the examination duties. It was the half-salary paid by the college where I work citing due to the Covid-19 lockdown."

It is not the lone case, Sri Latha(name changed), working in another prominent engineering college located in Ranga Reddy district found that the college depositing Rs 6,000 towards the salary. The college claimed that they were paying half salary because of the Covid-19 lockdown.

These two are among the numerous cases that now the deadly coronavirus has exposed how the private engineering colleges have been hoodwinking the AICTE, JNTU Hyderabad and the Telangana Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (TAFRC) claiming that they have been paying salaries to the faculty and non-teaching staff, either as per the pay scales or by industry standards.

It may be mentioned that the college gets their fee reimbursement from the State government fixed by the TAFRC based on the documents submitted by them, in which, the payment of salaries, facilities, amenities provided to the students play a key role.

Speaking to The Hans India, the principal working for the last 8 years in an engineering college belonging to a prominent group located in Medchal, said "The situation is turning bad to worse.

There are families of several teaching and non-teaching staff who are literally surviving on a one-day meal for the last month or so."

Adding further he said, "colleagues from other colleges located in Ranga Reddy told me that for the first time they are feeling guilty of being occupying the seats heading the colleges."

"The faculty and non-teaching staff have been asking to explain their situation to the managements and get their salaries released. In some colleges, the salaries are pending ranging from two to six months.

The situation is turning so worse that due to the Covid-19 lockdown even the neighbourhood small-time kirana merchants are not in a position to extend groceries on credit to the faculty members," he added

It is for the first time that the half-salaries being credited into the bank accounts by the college managements exposed the exact salary being paid to the faculty and other employees.

On the other hand, sources say, only about 70 to 90 private engineering colleges out of about 200 receiving fee reimbursement from the State government are reportedly paid salaries to the faculty for February, March and April.

This is despite the AICTE had directed the colleges to pay salaries and the JNTUH issued orders to execute the directives of the AICTE and the State government.

Besides, even after the release of the pending fee reimbursement by the State government for the years of 2018-19, the sources said.