British Deputy High Commissioner in Hyderabad, Andrew Fleming, said his country always welcomed students from here to study in the U.K. and it was also providing free education, accommodation and boarding for merit students.
On visiting Kakatiya Sand Box and Deshpande Foundation Centre at Sudhir Reddy Engineering College here on Thursday, he said after graduating in the U.K., students could come back to their native nation and use their knowledge and skills for the overall development of their country. “This exactly is the objective behind scholarship programmes,” he added.
College chairman Sudhir Reddy, Telangana Jagruthi U.K. president Suman Rao Balmuri, media advisor at British High Commission Keeran Drake, and economic advisor Nalini Raghuraman accompanied the Deputy High Commissioner.
Earlier at a separate programme at Collectorate, Mr. Fleming, who interacted with farmers, women and religious minorities, said a lot of work was going on in the field of irrigation, agriculture, education and healthcare in Telangana. There was a significant improvement in infrastructure, he said and added that improvement in irrigation facilities would help achieve good yield.
“Telangana is the most happening State and its capital, Hyderabad, is a multi-cultural city. We have close relations with all religious groups and celebrate all festivals at our office,” he said.
Local MLA Bigala Ganesh Gupta explained to the visiting dignitaries the programmes and schemes implemented by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to benefit all sections of the society.
The government was spending at least ₹1 lakh on each student in a year at government residential colleges, he said.
Municipal Corporators S. Laxmi and Sreevani, Jamaat-e-Islami representative Hafeez Layak and District Minority Cell president Naveed Ikbal told Mr. Fleming about the performance of the government. Collector M. Ram Mohan Rao and Mayor Akula Sujatha were also present.