M A I N   N E W S

Punjab withdraws college fee hike
Sarabjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 22
Bowing to the pressure from within the ruling party as well as from the Opposition and students, the Punjab Government today withdrew the fee-hike in colleges.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh this afternoon. Among the ministers present at the meeting were Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Mr Lal Singh, Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, Mr Partap Singh Bajwa, Mr Mohinder Singh Kaypee and Chaudhary Santokh Singh. Mr H.S. Hanspal, President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, and the Administrative Secretaries concerned were also present.

In a brief statement after the meeting, the government said: “It has been decided not to impose the revised fee structure for general education in colleges across the state”. The government has also decided to review the whole fee structure in order to provide education to girl students, Scheduled Castes and the economically weaker sections of society at cheaper rates.

However, the government statement was silent about the fee hike in various universities in the state.

The Tribune was the first one to highlight the plight of students as well as of the colleges following the fee hike. The number of students in most colleges had come down. Even students from certain areas in Punjab had started taking admission into the colleges in the neighbouring states.

It is pertinent to mention here that justifying the fee hike, the Punjab Chief Minister had stated in Patiala yesterday that there was no question of reviewing the decision because most of the colleges were facing a financial crisis and were on the verge of closure for want of money. The Finance Minister, Mr Lal Singh, had also followed the Chief Minister’s line and had rejected the plea to curtail the revised fee.

Earlier in the day, five ruling party MLAs Mr Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Ms Razia Sultana, Ms Aruna Chaudhary, Mr Surinder Dawar and Mr Parkash Singh Bhatti — expressed concern over the fee hike and declared their intention to take up the issue with the Chief Minister. There had been a definite feeling among certain other ruling party MLAs that because of the fee hike, doors had been shut on students belonging to the poor sections of society.

It is obvious that the Chief Minister must have got wind of the views of party MLAs as most of them had been feeling uncomfortable because of the fee hike and had started expressing their opinion, though in a measured tone, against the hike.