Lok Sabha Polls Posed Hurdle For Golaghat Engineering College; Students Facing Bleak Future

GUWAHATI: Faced with criticism for the Golaghat Engineering College’s failure to get approval from the All Indian Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Dispur has blamed the recent Lok Sabha election for the development.

Education Minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya said his department could not fill up various teaching and non-teaching posts in Golaghat Engineering College due to lack of sanction from the Finance department. He said a senior official of the Finance department has been staying outside the State as an election observer for the past two months. The absence of this official resulted in the delay in financial sanction to fill up the posts, he said.

Bhattacharya’s comment has raised eyebrows in the concerned circle and many have termed his comment nothing but a ploy to pass the buck. “Why it took so long for the State government to fill up the posts of teachers in the engineering college? Bhattacharya has made a flimsy ground at a time when students of the college are facing an uncertain future,” a senior teacher at Cotton University said.

The AICTE, the apex regulating body for technical education in the country under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, recently refused to accord its approval to Golaghat Engineering College citing several reasons. Some of the reasons were non appointment of a permanent principal, adequate faculty and lack of computer, laboratory, library and medical facilities.

About 92 students of Golaghat Engineering College are now facing a bleak future. The college is currently offering four-year degree course in three branches namely Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Chemical Engineering. The first batch of students got admitted to this college in August, 2018.

The All Assam Students’ Union and other students’ organizations have refused to accept Dispur’s ground for the Golaghat Engineering College’s failure to get the AICTE approval. The AASU said the government must immediately take steps to safeguard academic career of Golaghat Engineering College.

The AICTE in its recent letter to the Assam Government said that after the establishment of infrastructure facilities as per the requirements, the state government can apply for the letter of approval.

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