Government urged to directly pay fee to colleges

PUDUCHERRY: Former education minister S P Sivakumar on Sunday urged the government to make arrangements to directly pay the fees of the students selected under the CENTAC (Centralized Admission Committee) process to the respective colleges. The appeal from the former DMK MLA comes in the wake of an alleged suicide attempt by a second year student of a private engineering college at Mullodai on Friday. “The government should directly pay the fee amount to the private engineering colleges. The colleges should not ask the students to pay,” Sivakumar said. He also called for a Government Order (GO) in this regard.According to police, Piraisudan (19) of Jeeva Nagar,a second year B Tech student, consumed poison in his house in an attempt to commit suicide as he was unable to pay the course fee.Piraisudan,son of Panneerselvam, a painter of Venkata Nagar, joined the college under government quota following his selection through the CENTAC of the UT government. Even as he was waiting for the financial assistance announced for all students selected under CENTAC to pay the fee, the college management reportedly did not allow him to appear for the fourth semester examinations. A dejected Piraisudan subsequently consumed poison in his house. However, his parents rushed him to the Government general hospital, where he is said to be recuperating.The failure of the government to disburse the fee amount to the students under CENTAC has been attributed to the severe financial crisis it is facing.