Mysore/Mysuru: Strongly condemning the State Government’s decision to hike the fees for students getting admitted to Engineering Courses under Government quota, students under the  banner of ABVP (Akhila Bharat Vidyarthi Parishat)staged a demonstration at Gun House Circle here yesterday.

Maintaining that Higher Education Minister Dr. C.N. Ashwathnarayan had recently said that private Engineering Colleges have been asked not to hike the fees and continue with last year’s fee structure in the wake of COVID crisis, the students claimed that now the Government, contrary to its stand, has issued an order hiking the fee for Government quota seats, which can provide a base for private  Engineering Colleges too to hike fees.

They said that the fee for Government quota seats in State-run and private Engineering Colleges has been fixed at Rs. 83,526 and Rs. 90,060 respectively from the current year, which is a steep hike considering that the fee last year was Rs. 58,806 and Rs. 65,340 respectively. The Government has also added Rs. 20,000 as Miscellaneous Fee and Rs. 20,000 for Skill Lab facility, which means  an additional burden  of Rs. 40,000 for every student, they said and urged the Government to roll back the fee hike  and continue with the previous year’s fee structure in the  larger interest of  students and parents, who are already  reeling under the effects of COVID pandemic. ABVP office-bearers Sriram, Mallappa, Shivu, Kiran, Jeevan, Shreyas,Namratha, Gayathri, Manoj, Srikanta, Dinesh and others were present.