Srinagar: Federation of Self Financing Technical Institutions (FSFTI), All India, has demanded that All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi, should do away with the land requirements for technical colleges on the pattern of western countries.
Dr. Anshu Kataria, President, FSFTI; Punjab Unaided College Association (PUCA) and Chairman, Aryans Group of Colleges while demanding this said that the New Education Policy (NEP) of the government is a welcome step which will bring new reforms in the education sector. But the land requirement for starting or running any college is a very costly affair in India because of its rising cost.
Kataria said that instead of land the minimum covered area should be made the requirement because before giving Change of Land Use and before approving the building plan the concerned Govt authorities ensure Floor Area Ratio (FAR) and Floor Space Index (FSI). However the play grounds can be made mandatory, mentioned Kataria.
Kataria further added that like the National Medical Commission (NMC), AICTE should also relax the requirement of minimum land for setting up a college. With the surplus land, the college should be permitted to start other courses or should be permitted to start industry which will help in financial revival of the existing Engineering colleges which are on the verge of closure.
While giving more information R.S. Munirathinam, Patron, FSFTI said that there are 3,993 Diploma, 3,627 Under Graduate and 4,788 Post Graduate AICTE approved institutions while the approved intake for diploma is 10, 12,589; Under Graduate, 13,26,174 and Post Graduate is 6,36,082. In total the AICTE approved institutions across the country are 8,996 with an approved intake of 29, 74,845. He further said that a large number of seats are lying vacant and the huge infrastructure is unutilized.
KVK Rao, General Secretary, FSFTI said that “our federation has been requesting since the last 5-7 years that AICTE norms should be on the basis of seats filled and not on the basis of sanctioned intake.” “If a college has 600 seats and 300 seats remain vacant then what is the point of maintaining the faculty for 600 seats?”
He further said that if some colleges are not able to fill seats in the first year then the college should not be forced to keep faculty for those vacant seats.
