Kerala - Alappuzha   

Chennithala: fee structure vague

Staff Reporter

ALAPPUZHA : Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Ramesh Chennithala has said that the decision of the committee appointed by the State Government to finalise the fee structure in professional colleges is ``vague'' and will result in confusion in the higher education sector.

Inaugurating the general body of Alappuzha District Congress Committee here on Sunday, Mr. Chennithala said the students who got admission in seats reserved for various categories in professional colleges in the State would be forced to pay fees higher than the existing rates as a result of the decision.

He said the Act on self-financing colleges passed by the LDF Government would not stand and the court was likely to annul it. As per the fee structure recommended by the committee for the higher education sector, students would have to get scholarships to complete their studies, he said.

Mr. Chennithala clarified that the UDF would not approve any move to commercialise the education sector. Those who managed colleges should give an opportunity to students from backward communities and economically weaker sections to pursue studies, he said.

He said the present situation in the State was that the Government was asserting that it would implement the Act, and managements of such colleges were threatening to close down the colleges.

Both sides should soften their stands and the Government should shed its ego, Mr. Chennithala said.

Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran, who spoke at the function, said the LDF was covertly planning to mine mineral sand from Arattupuzha coast in the district. A section in the CPI(M) that organised anti-mining agitation during the rule of the UDF Government was slowly distancing itself from the cause, Mr. Sudheeran said.

Mr. Sudheeran said the appointment of a person who had been termed ``corrupt'' by Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan as the head of Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd., Chavara, was a proof of the influence of the mineral sand lobby in the present Government.

Mr. Sudheeran said the authorities were at present trying to rehabilitate people of mineral sand rich Arattupuzha panchayat to other areas.

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