Engineering Colleges To Go On Strike

Consortium of Private Engineering Colleges Managements' Association (CPECMA), the representative body of all the 635 private engineering colleges in the state, plans to serve a notice to the state government on May 17 demanding that the latter release its pending funds under the fee reimbursement scheme.

Providing time till May 25, CPECMA announced on Saturday that it will go on an indefinite strike from May 26 if the government fails to issue the promised amount immediately.

Launched by former Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, the fee reimbursement scheme aimed to reimburse the annual tuition fee of students from economically backward classes (including SC, ST, OBC and EBC) attending all the degree, PG and professional courses starting from the year 2008-09. Those with an annual family income below Rs. 1 lakh were deemed eligible to apply. The government began the scheme with an outlay of Rs. 2,050 crore, and received 24.16 lakh applications from student pursuing courses that included B. Tech., B. Pharmacy, MBBS, B. Ed., MBA, MCA, M. Tech. and M. Pharmacy.

The government failed to live up to its promi se since the launch of the scheme and, according to the CPECMA chief, Rs. 325 crore has to be released by the state government under this scheme to engineering colleges alone, while over Rs. 2,150 crore has to be released to all private colleges offering post-matriculation courses.

This prompted the engineering colleges management boards, which claim it will be difficult to function owing to the acute shortage of money, to call for a strike.

This decision of stalling colleges post May 26 will severely affect hundreds of students in the state whose final University exams will begin during this time.