Osmania University needs over Rs 350 crores, gets only Rs 100 crores: SFI calls for protests
Hyderabad: Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Telangana criticized the Telangana state Budget presented by the Congress government, stating that it severely neglects the education sector. Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Bhatti Vikramarka presented the Telangana Budget in the Telangana Legislative Assembly on Thursday. In this budget the government has proposed Rs.21,292 crores for the education department.
According to the SFI, the allocation for education in the budget is only 7.3 percent, which is less than what was allocated in the previous government’s budget. The previous budget allocated Rs 21,389 crores as against Rs 21,292 crores, current allocation. Pointing out at the same, SFI criticizes that these funds are insufficient for the development of government education.
In his budget speech Bhatti Vikramarka said, “In this budget we have proposed Rs 500 crores for the infrastructure development in universities. Of these, Rs 100 crores is proposed for Osmania University and Rs 100 crores for Women’s University and the balance is proposed for infrastructure facilities of Kakatiya University and other Universities.”
Commenting on the same, SFI questioned how the state plans to develop universities with a mere Rs 500 crores. The funds allocated for the Osmania University and Women’s University are Rs 200 crores, and the remaining Rs 300 crores are distributed among other universities. The SFI added that “these funds are insufficient for the development of universities”.
Throwing light on the same T Nagaraju SFI state secretary said, “The Congress, assured to provide funds for messes, hostels, filling vacancies, and improving infrastructure in every university. They pledged Rs 1,000 crores for Osmania University, Rs 500 crores for the development of Women’s University, and funds for the establishment of new universities in Khammam and Adilabad. However, only Rs 500 crores have been allocated for university development in the current budget, which the SFI deems inadequate”. Further SFI highlighted that the existing 11 state universities in Telangana require more funds just for maintenance, with Osmania University alone needing over Rs 350 crores.
The SFI demands an immediate revision of the budget to increase the funds allocated to the education sector and improve government education. In protest against these allocations, the SFI has called for statewide demonstrations.
