Odisha reserves 25% engineering seats for outside students

Bhubaneswar: In view of the number of seats lying vacant in private engineering colleges across the State, Odisha government decided to keep 25% reservation for the students of other States to fill up the seats.

The decision was taken by the Skill Development & Technical Education department.

Earlier, 15% seats were reserved for outside students for admission into engineering courses offered in private colleges in Odisha.

While Odisha Private Engineering College Association (OPECA) has welcomed the government’s decision, the student organisations have opposed it.

With the move, the students from other States including Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh will get admission into engineering courses so that few vacant seats can be filled, said OPECA Secretary Binod Dash.

The OPECA had been demanding 40% reservation in the seats for outside students in the past three years for admission into engineering courses in the colleges. Now, the government hiked it to 25% from15%. We hope more increase in the percentage in future, he said.

However, various student organisations opposed the move.

There are already 50% seats reserved for the students belonging to SC, ST, OBC and persons with disabilities in private engineering colleges. The remaining 50% reservation is meant for the students in general categories. With announcing 25% reservation for the students of other States, the students in Odisha will be deprived of getting admission into engineering courses in reputed private colleges here, said Odisha Technical and Professional Education Students Association convener Biplab Prakash Mohanty.

The number of seats reserved for outside students in Odisha, are also lying vacant. There were 2,500 seats reserved for outside students in 2017, out of which 2,361 seats were vacant. There is no need for 25% reservation for them now, he added.