Updated on: Thursday, January 31, 2013
While a large number of seats are lying vacant in technical colleges of the state, the state government on Wednesday announced increase in B Tech and M Tech seats at the College of Engineering and Technology (CET), one of the premier state-run institutes. B Tech seats were increased from 390 to 470, while M Tech seats were increased from 127 to 178.
"The seats in CET were increased because there was a huge demand for seats in government colleges. Seats are lying vacant in private colleges and not in government colleges," Pratap Keshari Deb, minister for employment and technical education and training department, said.
In civil engineering and instrumentation and electrical engineering, seats increased from 30 to 120 while in mechanical and electrical branches, seats increased from 45 to 120.
Justifying the increase, Deb said, "A high-level committee headed by the secretary of the department made a study of the demand and found that there is a huge demand for core subjects in government run technical colleges. One can get quality education at a lower price there."
The minister said the state government would spend Rs 10 crore for development of infrastructure in the college. This is the first time seats in the college increased since its inception in 1981.