AIMIM's Owaisi Flags Fee Reimbursement Irregularities in Telangana Assembly

AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi on Friday raised concerns in the Telangana Legislative Assembly over what he described as irregularities in the implementation of the fee reimbursement scheme, alleging that ineligible beneficiaries were drawing its benefits at the cost of genuine students.

Speaking during question hour, Mr. Owaisi said the scheme's design left little room for the intended beneficiaries to gain. He noted that minimum wages for skilled labour stood at about ₹1.98 lakh in rural areas and more than ₹2.2 lakh in urban areas, and argued that with such wage levels in place, few would qualify for reimbursement.

He also flagged the absence of an annual reapplication requirement, saying students could continue to receive reimbursement despite low attendance, which he said opened the door to misuse of funds released by the government. Delays in clearing reimbursement dues, he added, were hurting staff, with thousands of teachers not receiving their salaries on time.

Mr. Owaisi called for a comprehensive overhaul of the system, including fresh rules and guidelines to close the scope for misuse. He said the scheme's implementation was riddled with irregularities and that mistakes of the previous government needed to be corrected.

While acknowledging the government's financial constraints in releasing funds, he said these could be eased by plugging leakages in GST collection. He claimed the government could earn an additional ₹2,000 crore if such leakages were addressed.

Industries and IT Minister D. Sridhar Babu responded that the government would soon convene an all-party meeting to seek views on the scheme's implementation, adding that it was open to constructive suggestions from political parties.