NALGONDA: There is an imminent threat to government residential schools and hostels in the district. The owners of the buildings in which they are run have decided to lock up the institutions since the state government has not been paying rent for the last two years.
The previous BRS government had set up a large number of residential schools for SC, ST, BC and minority students. As the government did not have buildings, the collectors rented premises for the purpose as per the directives of the government.
The arrangement was that rent should be deposited in the bank accounts of the owners every month. As of now, the rents have not been paid for the last 30 months in some districts and 24 months in others.
In Nalgonda district, eight residential schools, 22 hostels for SCs, six residential schools for STs, 15 residential schools, 29 hostel buildings for BCs, six residential schools and three colleges for minority students are being run in rented buildings.
The owner of a building, who chose to remain anonymous, told TNIE that he had spent Rs 40 lakh on the construction of his building but he is now unable to pay EMIs because the state government has not been paying him rent regularly.
Another building owner expressed concern that his credit score will fall if default continues in payment of EMIs. Yet another owner said that they met the higher authorities of the finance department but there was no satisfactory response from them.
He said that if the government does not pay rent regularly and clear dues, they will have to evict students from the schools and lock up the buildings.
A building owner said that they let out their buildings, though the rent is lower, because they hoped to get a regular source of income. “But due to the mounting arrears, we have decided against renting out our buildings to the government,” he said.
Some of the owners told TNIE that the officials had warned them that criminal cases would be filed against them if they locked up the school building in the middle of the academic year. They, however, said that they are ready to go to any extent to bring pressure on the government to clear the dues.
Officials of SC, BC and other welfare residential schools in the district told TNIE that they recently met the owners of the buildings and made an estimation of rent dues. They assured them that the rent arrears would be cleared one by one. According to them, though the previous government allocated budget for rents, they were kept pending at the treasury offices.