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Journalism of Courage
PUNE, June 28: The agitation against the State Government regarding the engineering admission faux pas continued today as parents and activists of Pune University Students8217; Association staged demonstrations at the district collectors8217; office.
The protesting parents and students presented a memorandum to the collector demanding immediate withdrawal of the State order regarding the merger of North Maharashtra University NMU with the University of Pune UoP for the 70 per cent regional reservation in the engineering admissions.
The association activists later met Cultural Affairs Minister Pramod Navalkar, who was in the city to attend the Vyasanmukti Seva Puraskar. The students presented a copy of memorandum to Navalkar.
Besides the reservation issue, the parents are voicing their protest against the hike in engineering fees. Dr Bafna, heading the parents8217; association said, 8220;The government has hiked the fee from Rs 4000 to Rs 8000 for free seats and from Rs 32,000 to Rs 40,000 for payment seats. This sharp hike is not acceptable.8221;
Chandrashekhar Ghate, president of students association said, 8220;Although we are not against the fee-hike, it should be done proportional to the hike done for other degree and vocational courses.8221; Ghate said that the association will suspend its agitation for two days on Navalkar8217;s assurance that he would take up the issue.
In the event the government fails to reconsider its decision, the agitation will be revived, Ghate said.
