Degree colleges across T threaten indefinite strike over pending dues

Hyderabad: Degree colleges across Telangana have announced an indefinite strike starting Tuesday to protest against lack of funds for basic functioning. The strike called by the Telangana Degree Colleges Managements Association, is expected to affect lakhs of students across the state. The colleges claim that hundreds of institutions are shutting down each year because of their inability to afford staff salaries, building rents and maintenance of the colleges.
The association's president, Suryanarayana Reddy, said, "The govt has been promising to clear the pending dues, but they have failed to do so.We have no choice but to go on strike to ensure the survival of our institutions and the future of our students."
The outfit has now planned a 'non-cooperation movement' to get their demands met. The govt earlier issued reimbursement tokens worth 1,200 crore out of the 5,900 crore dues. However, the dues were not cleared even after Dasara, leaving the colleges in a dire financial situation.
Srinivas Karthala, who owns Stanford Women's Degree College in Bhongir, said, "Every month I spend 1.5 lakh for rent, 2.5 lakh for staff salaries, and other miscellaneous charges, running up a bill of 50 lakh annually. For all these expenses, I take a loan out and wait for the reimbursements. Unfortunately, I have not seen a single rupee since 2021."
Up next, pharmacy colleges are also joining the strike from Wednesday. The Telangana Pharmacy Colleges Management Association's T Jaipal Reddy and K Ramadas said, "Over 100 colleges are going to participate in the bandh. For three years we have not received any reimbursement. Earlier there were 140 pharmacy colleges, now they have fallen to 122."
Responding to the developments, a senior official in the Telangana Council of Higher Education (TGCHE) said, "The fee reimbursement will be rolled out soon, and the govt is yet to decide on the finer modalities." Though not committing to a timeline, the official assured the disbursal at the earliest.