The agonising wait for students who are supposed to join engineering colleges in the state is likely to continue. Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has asked the cabinet sub-committee not to go ahead with the announcement of Eamcet engineering counseling schedule until all engineering colleges agree to the common fee structure of Rs 35,000, which has been fixed by the state.
Day-long meetings conducted by the cabinet sub-committee and the CM to discuss the engineering admissions issue failed to yield any result. The sub-committee comprising deputy chief minister Damodar Raja Narasimha, social welfare minister Pithani Satyanarayana and senior officials of higher, technical education and social welfare department held a marathon three-hour meeting in the morning debating the issue. Later, the cabinet sub-committee met the Chief Minister and briefed him about the outcome of the meeting and the need to announce the Eamcet engineering schedule at the earliest.
However, the CM, who discussed the issue with the cabinet sub-committee for nearly two hours in the evening, is said to have asked the sub-committee not to release counseling schedule in “haste” unless all the 700 colleges agree to the Rs 35,000 fee regime. He cautioned them that differential fee in colleges may lead to legal trouble in future and asked them to step up efforts to achieve a “consensus” on common fees among all the colleges, even if it takes some time.
Deputy CM Damodar Raja Narasimha, after the meeting, told reporters that he will make an announcement on Eamcet engineering counseling by Friday evening. Social welfare minister Pithani Satyanarayana, however, had a different view. He stated, “I can’t say exactly when the schedule will be announced.
The CM has asked us to convince all the colleges to agree to a common fees of Rs 35,000. Majority of the colleges have agreed to it. As per my knowledge, about 40 colleges are seeking a fee hike. We will negotiate with them and try to achieve a consensus at the earliest. We can release the counseling schedule immediately aft-er the problem is resolved. I can’t predict if it will take a day or longer.”