HYDERABAD:Telangana government has been raising pitch for accordance of more importance to Telugu language. However, the compliance audit observations report of higher education department released by the Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) on Thursday pointed out that even after years of allocation of required land and money to set up the promised ‘Telugu Talli Pranganam’, permanent campus of Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University, the project has not taken off yet.
The report also pointed out that the university continues to function with 12 departments and four divisions, in a building meant for a museum which is inadequate for its administrative as well as academic requirements and the delay in establishment of ‘Telugu Talli Pranganam’ despite availabilityof land and financial resources resulted in the loss of UGCfinancial assistance as well as denied quality education to university’s students.
The report mentioned that the university was allotted 100 acres land at Bachupally in Rangareddy district in 2003 by the then State government of Andhra Pradesh. Following this, a master plan for developing infrastructure for the university at an estimated cost of `50 crore was prepared in 2005 and in 2009-10. The University Grants Commission(UGC) provided financial assistance of `10.62 crore in its 11th plan, which the university should return with 10 per cent interest rate if the money remains unutilized.
Audit scrutiny showed that, UGC released `5.31 crore of the `10.62 crore. However, the university utilized only `2.26 crore and the remaining `3.48 crore was left unutilized even after grant of extension of time by UGC. This was compounded with a liability of `1.98 crore towards interest on unspent amount.