The inspection of engineering colleges by the task forces constituted by the government, comprising officials from police, revenue, vigilance departments etc., is snowballing into a major controversy.
Majority of the engineering colleges, numbering about 580 out of a total of 685 private engineering colleges in the state, are totally against any inspections by the government, since they had agreed to a moderate fee hike of Rs 4,000 — from Rs 31,000 to Rs 35,000, as proposed by the government.
The managements of those colleges that agreed to a moderate fee hike of Rs 4,000, met here on Saturday to decide on their future course of action. They also intend to hold a meeting on Monday in the city with the managements of nearly 1,000 engineering, pharmacy, MBA and MCA colleges, which accepted the moderate fee hike as proposed by the government. They are planning to observe an “indefinite bandh” of colleges over the issue.
“The Cabinet sub-committee consisting of deputy CM Damodar Raja Narasimha and minister Botsa Satyanarayana had assured us during the talks that there would be no inspection of colleges that accepted a moderate fee hike. They told us the inspections will be restricted to those 83 colleges that claimed a steep hike, ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.05 lakh,” said K.V.K. Rao, chairman, Educational Institutions’ Protection Committee.