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Decision to cut down seats in AEC condemned

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, May 13 - The Students� Federation of India (SFI) has condemned the recent decision of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to cut down 25 per cent seats (106 seats) from Assam Engineering College.

Addressing a press conference at the Guwahati Press Club today, the SFI demanded immediate intervention of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on the matter.

�Assam Engineering College (AEC), a prestigious institute, caters to the needs of the students of the State through its 420 seats available in eight engineering disciplines. But the recent decision of the AICTE to curtail 106 seats will adversely affect the engineering aspirants across Assam,� Nirangkush Nath and Kashyap Choudhury, general secretary and president respectively of SFI, said.

Pointing out that the reason for the curtailment of seats had not been clearly spelt out either by the AICTE or by the college authorities, Nath said that it was being alleged that the frequent occurrence of ragging which came to light with the death of Madhurya Barukial and later a complaint registered to the anti-ragging helpline made many people associated with the college to speculate ragging as one of the reasons.

Further, he said, the inadequate infrastructure could also be a reason.

�It has also come to notice that the authorities have been callous in addressing the problems of the institute. Whatever the reasons may be, SFI holds the view that due to the negligence of the authorities, the premier institute and the aspiring students must not suffer. There should be an inquiry and the guilty booked and in no case should the seats be curtailed,� he said.

SFI will send a memorandum to the Chief Minister, Union HRD minister and AICTE Chairperson in this regard. It has also called upon the democratic sections to resist the attempt to curtail the seats.

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