VIJAYAWADA: Taking a dig at the remarks of YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on the delay in fee reimbursement, HRD Minister N Lokesh expressed his surprise over the former, who kept dues to the tune of Rs 6,500 crore from eggs and chikkis supplied to students to fee reimbursement, and is now preaching morals.
Replying to the statement posted on ‘X’ by Jagan, he responded in the same medium, saying, “Yours (Jagan’s) is a wasteful government which played havoc with the students after making an empty promise that their entire fee would be reimbursed.”
Blaming the previous YSRCP government for playing with the lives of the students by amending the rules of fee reimbursement, Lokesh said in the most sarcastic way that only Jagan can function irresponsibly while in power but preach values after coming into opposition.
The future of lakhs of students is hanging in the balance as they have not received their certificates since Rs 3,500 crore in dues are to be cleared in the name of Vidya Deevena and Vasathi Deevena, Lokesh said.
“When I was on my ‘Yuva Galam’ padayatra, the students brought to my notice your ‘greatness’ and as per the promise made to them, we have taken the issue seriously and resolved the matter immediately after the TDP-led NDA government came to power,” the Minister for Education posted on ‘X’.
The colleges have been directed to immediately issue certificates to the students and a decision was taken recently to pay the fee reimbursement amount directly to the colleges, he stated. “With the policy of talking to souls at midnight and taking decisions in the morning, the entire academic sector was totally destroyed in the past five years,” Lokesh quipped. The minister asked why four lakh students dropped out of schools if his government had made sound decisions. He announced that the government will revive the old fee reimbursement system and reiterated commitment to bolstering the academic sector by filling 16,347 teacher posts.