President of the National Backward Classes Welfare Association and Rajya Sabha member R Krishnaiah urged the Telangana government to release the pending fees amounting to Rs 5,000 crore for approximately 20 lakh engineering, medicine, postgraduate, and undergraduate Other Backward Classes (OBC), Economically Backward Classes (EBC), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students.

In a statement released on Sunday, February 25, Krishnaiah, Neelam Venkatesh, Gujja Krishna and other BC leaders alleged that the state government has not reimbursed the fee to these students for the last three years, reported The New Indian Express.

“As the government was not reimbursing the fee, the management of the colleges were demanding that the students should pay the fee. They are not giving certificates to those students who have completed their courses,” Krishnaiah said.

BTech, BE, Pharmacy, MTech, MBA, MCA and PG students were suffering a lot, as they could not get their certificates, he added.

“Few managements were demanding the students to pay the fee, with a condition that they would return the amount once the government reimbursed the same. Other college managements were not allowing the students to sit for classes. Even students who bagged seats in foreign universities could not continue their studies, due to the non-availability of certificates. The management of the colleges were not paying salaries to lecturers,” he further alleged.