Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday asked the State government to reduce the fee structure of Pariyaram Medical College in order to bring pressure on self-financing private medical colleges to take similar action.
Addressing a press conference in the Assembly Media room here, Mr. Chandy said the fee structure of the Pariyaram Medical College in the cooperative sector was different from that in private self-financing colleges.
Over the years, the fee in this institution has been low mainly because it was a recipient of government grants.
It had a social commitment to perform unlike others in the private self-financing sector.
However, the manner in which the fee was hiked clearly indicated that the LDF government was not with the students and parents in medical admissions.
Low fee structure
The college management, which was in the hands of the CPI (M), cooperated with the erstwhile UDF government’s request for a low fee structure.
Mr. Chandy said the new fee structure clearly indicated that the CPI(M) and the LDF was not sincere in their earlier positions. Neither had the government done its home work.
When the UDF came to power in 2011, it pressured the managements not to ask for a fee hike since the government wanted to study the issue.
In the subsequent years, it agreed to fee hikes which came to Rs. 47,000 over a period of four years.
However, the LDF had sanctioned a hike of Rs. 65,000 for a single year. The worst part is the stand on three government medical colleges as a result of which the State lost 250 seats in the government sector providing admissions to the deserving meritorious and poor students.
The pro-CPI (M) youth organisations went on rampage against these decisions and destroyed public property worth crores of rupees.
The current agitation of the KSU-Youth Congress did not damage public property, he claimed.
When asked whether he was touting the reduction in Pariyaram fee structure as a compromise formula to end the ongoing agitation, Mr. Chandy maintained that he was only pointing out to the social commitment to be performed by the government.
He did not want to make any charges against the government in connection with the fee hike.
He also did not have comments on the manner in which the Chief Minister handled the issue in the Assembly.
“Each person has got his own style. I am not given to making wild charges,” Mr. Chandy said.
The agitation of the KSU-Youth Congress has not damaged public property, Chandy claims
