Thursday, Oct 07, 2004
Thursday, Oct 07, 2004 |
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Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Andhra Pradesh
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Visakhapatnam
By Sumit Bhattacharjee
VISAKHAPATNAM, OCT. 6. Imagine the plight of the students who, after spending over Rs.5 lakhs and going through the rigours of a four-year course, are kept on the tenterhooks for issuance of certificates, that too for no fault of theirs. The first batch of 48 students of the Naval Maritime Academy (NAMAC), set up under the aegis of the Naval Education Society in 1999 to impart marine engineering training to candidates interested in joining merchant navy, had to undergo this ordeal.
Row over money
Though the NAMAC acquired certain training facilities and expertise within its campus, the students are sent to the Marine Engineering Department of Andhra University for some critical subjects and practical orientation. According to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the NAMAC and Andhra University, every student would undergo nearly 2,000 hours of training on the AU campus for which the former would pay the latter a sum as per the criticality of the subject. The MoU was signed by the AU higher-ups during the Vice-Chancellorship of Rokkam Radhakrishna. Subsequently, with the changes at the AU helm and reshuffling of the higher-ups, the present AU administration held up the issue of certificates to the NAMAC students who had completed the four-year course by then, under the pretext that the NAMAC was collecting a tidy sum from the students, while what was paid to AU was peanuts.
Negotiated deal
According to reliable sources, the sum payable to AU is Rs.18 lakhs as per the MoU, but its management sought to raise it to Rs.40 lakhs. The demand for this huge hike and the plight of the first batch of students brought the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command, O.P Bansal, twice to the negotiating table. The deal was finally settled for Rs.38 lakhs, but only after the students had undergone the ordeal for over six months. Vexed with this attitude of the AU management, Vice Admiral Bansal is learnt to have ordered the winding up of the course and closure of NAMAC itself by 2007, when the current batch would complete the course. ``We could have continued, but we are afraid that the AU might come up with a demand for another jack-up. Hence our decision to close the course,'' said one of the NAMAC administrators on conditions of anonymity.
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