17 new govt engineering colleges on anvil; 10 in N-K

At a time when engineering colleges are struggling to stay afloat, the Department of Technical Education (DTE) has proposed starting 17 new government engineering colleges.

The proposals were sent to the government between April 2016 and May 2017. Of the 17, ten new colleges are proposed in north Karnataka, with districts such as Bidar, Kalaburagi and Bagalkot leading the race.

In fact, four out of the five new government engineering colleges already sanctioned are coming up in north Karnataka - Talkal village in Yalburga (Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy’s constituency), Nargund in Gadag, Gangavathi in Koppal and one in Bidar. The fifth one is coming up at Challakere in Chitradurga to cater to the Science City, a township anchored by IISc, ISRO, DRDO and BARC.

Karnataka has 227 engineering colleges, among which only 11 are state-run and 202 are private colleges.

The rush to start new colleges, however, comes at a time when thousands of engineering seats go abegging each year. Sample this: Over 29,000 seats out of 77,500 seats (excluding management quota) that were available this academic year have remained vacant.

Vote bank concerns

That most proposals for new colleges are for North Karnataka seems rather obvious, given that the ruling Congress, the BJP and the JD(S) are going all out to woo voters in this region.

Colleges are proposed to come up also at Raichur (Manvi), Yadgir, Vijayapura (Indi), Chikmagalur (Indavara), Dakshina Kannada (Moodabidri), Tumakuru (Kunigal), Mysuru (T Narasipura) and Udupi.

Of the five new colleges already sanctioned, authorities say only two are in a position to commence operations from the 2018-19 academic year. “The Talkal and Gangavati colleges will be ready by December. Work on colleges in Challakere, Nargund and Bidar are still in the preliminary stage,” Technical Education Director H U Talawar said. The government is spending Rs 58 crore toward construction of the new colleges.