Three new govt. engineering colleges on the anvil

In news that could bring cheer to engineering aspirants looking for highly subsidised seats, as many as three new government engineering colleges are on the anvil. Set to come up in Challakere (Chitradurga), Nargund (Gadag) and Talkal (Koppal), the colleges will add to the government seat pool if they get the nod from the All-India Council for Technical Education. These locations were chosen as Chitradurga and Gadag have only private engineering colleges, while there are no engineering colleges in Koppal. Announcing this at a press conference here on Saturday, Higher Education Minister R.V. Deshpande also said the government would renew its demand with the Centre for an Indian Institute of Technology. A similar request made last year was not entertained by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Among the new initiatives of the Higher Education Department are starting new ‘regional offices’ of the Karnataka Examinations Authority at Kalaburagi and Dharwad, where land has already been identified, as well as for Mysuru and Bengaluru Revenue Divisions. On the State’s proposal to divide Bangalore University (BU), he said the government would use its discretion based on the options available. Mr. Deshpande was the chairman of the Cabinet sub-committee which was to look into the matter. Though he termed the Central College campus as being “historically important,” he did not specify whether or not it would remain with the existing BU.   Govt. will renew its demand with the Centre for an IIT. R.V. Deshpande,Higher Education Minister -The Hindu