Engg. counselling starts on a dull note

Only 725 candidates attend the certification verification process across A.P. He said the top 5,000 rankers were called on the first day and of them 2,716 were from A.P. region and the remaining were from Telangana region. Out of the 2,716 only 725 attended the certificate verification process.

Officials verifying the certificates of Eamcet aspirants at the Government Polytechnic College in Vijayawada on Thursday. Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

The online certificate verification for Eamcet-qualified students aspiring for seats in engineering colleges, started on a dull note with almost all the 34 counselling centres across the 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh registering thin attendance on the first day on Thursday.

According to Chief Camp Officer, CET admissions, Raghunath only 725 candidates attended the certification verification across Andhra Pradesh.

He said the top 5,000 rankers were called on the first day and of them 2,716 were from A.P. region and the remaining were from Telangana region. Out of the 2,716 only 725 attended the certificate verification process.

The low turnout is attributed to the inordinate delay in the counselling process due to the prevailing uncertainty over the fee reimbursement issue. This has resulted in a good number of students moving out to engineering colleges outside the State while the top students opted to join premier institutions like IITs.

The scenario does not augur well for engineering colleges which will face severe dearth of students this academic year.

In Vijayawada, as few as 97 students attended the session in the three designated helpline centres at the Government Polytechnic College, Andhra Loyola College and SRR & CVR Government Degree College.

In Visakhapatnam, the two centres -- Government Polytechnic College and Government Institute of Chemical Engineering (GICE), registered a turnout of 100 students -- 30 at the Polytechnic College and 70 at GICE.

In Tirupati, the total number of students at the two designated counselling centres at Sri Venkateswara Arts College and Government Polytechnic College (Tirupati) was 15 till the lunch session.

The three web counselling centres in West Godavari district also wore a deserted look with a small number of students showing up on the first day. Certificates of the 1-5,000 rankers were scrutinised at St. Theresa’s College at Eluru, Sita Polytechnic College at Bhimavaram and Mullapudi Polytechnic College at Tanuku.

In Kadapa district, the three centres at Government Polytechnic for Women at Chinna Chowk, Yogi Vemana University and YVU College of Engineering at Proddutur, registered attendance of 36 students.

In Ongole, a technical glitch prevented the process of certificates verification at one of the two centres. Counselling could not be taken up at Acharya Nagarjuna University P.G. Centre due to technical problem and the four students who came were asked to go to the other centre at DA Government Polytechnic College where 27 students showed up.