From Our Correspondent
Agartala: Aiming to remove the deadlock over admission of ST/SC aspirants in Agartala Govt Medical College (AGMC), the Assembly on Monday decided to have an all-party meeting on Tuesday.
While Higher Education Minister Anil Sarkar will chair the meeting, Health Minister Tapan Chakraborty, opposition leader Ratan Lal Nath and INPT legislator BK Hrangkhawl were invited to remain present in the all-important meeting.
The decision came after INPT MLA raised the problem centering in filling up 29 medical seats reserved for ST/SC aspirants on the floor of the House shortly after the question hour.
Hragkhawl said that there must be elaborate discussion in the House as to why 29 ST/SC reserved seats in AGMC are set to remain vacant in this academic session. “The Govt can’t skip its responsibility and I want specific reply from Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on what the government has done to solve the problem”, he said.
In reply, the Chief Minister shared his concern over the development and made the House aware about the government efforts to remove the problem.
Sarkar said that he had spoken to Union Minister for Health and Family Gulamm Navi Azad on the issue but he (later) did not give any positive answer on the state government request in reducing cut-off marks (40) for admission in medical course.
He informed that even the MCI did not accept state’s proposal for reduction in cut-off mark citing the Supreme Court’s verdict. However, opposition leader Ratan Lal Nath and MLA Sudip Roy Barman held the state government responsible for the blander.
Nath wanted to know why special coaching was not conducted for aspiring ST students for the medical course. “Though the cut-off came into effect from 2007, this was not mentioned in the brochure of the Tripura Joint Entrance Board (TJEB). It is serious laps on the part of the TJEB and the government should own its responsibility”, Nath said.
Acknowledging the sensitivity of the development, the Chief Minister offered for having an all-party meeting to find an amicable solution to the newly emerged problem. Sarkar also expressed his concern over the MCI move to conduct national entrance test (NEET) for medical seats.