Establishing a government degree college—the main demand of young voters from the Vijayawada West Assembly constituency—seems to be going unheard by all the candidates in the forthcoming elections.
Most of the city’s hilly landscape falls under the West constituency, which is bounded by Prakasam Barrage in the south and Gollapudi in the west, Jakkampudi to the north, and the Old Government General Hospital to the east. Populated mostly by daily wagers, the constituency, with a population of more than 3 lakh, does not have an exclusive government degree college at present, say locals.
“There used to be two government-aided colleges until last year: Kakaraparti Bhavanarayana (KBN) College and Syed Appalaswamy College (SAS) in this constituency. Now, the two have become autonomous. This has led to an increase in the fees, making education out of bounds for many children who come from low-income families. There has been a rise in the dropout rate, too,” says Suryanarayana, a member of the Degree College Sadhana committee.
Last year in August, the committee members, along with a few students, distributed pamphlets among residents of One Town on why there should be another degree college for them. They also submitted a letter to NTR District Collector S. Dilli Rao, public representatives and other officials requesting them to consider setting up a government college for the people here.
“During ‘Gadapa Gadapaku Mana Prabhutvam’ programme last year, when we informed the present MLA Velampalli Srinivas about the issue, he replied with a question asking us if there was any land available in the constituency in the first place. While we agree that it is difficult to find a large stretch of land within the city, the government lands on the outskirts, in Jakkampudi, Gollapudi, etc., can be used,” Mr. Suryanarayana says, adding that there has been no response from the other officials yet.
That being so, the people had expected that the demand would at least be picked up by the candidates during their campaigns, but that too has not happened, says CPI(M) corporator Satya Babu, who, along with his party leaders, has helped the locals in taking up the issue with authorities.
When contacted, the YSRCP candidate from the Vijayawada West Assembly constituency, Shaikh Asif, gave a similar reply as Mr. Srinivas, that there is not space for a college in this area and that they would explore other options. The party’s primary focus in the constituency, which has a large population of Muslims, is on cautioning the public about the “divide and rule” strategy of the NDA.
Meanwhile, sources close to Yalamanchili Satyanarayana (Sujana) Chowdary, the NDA candidate here, said they have come across the demand from the students and that they are in the process of identifying lands in K.L. Rao Nagar and Lambaadipeta. The TDP-JSP-BJP combine is focussing on the problems faced by people in the hill areas, and developing Kanaka Durga temple on par with the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is their priority, sources from the party said.
A student from KBN Intermediate College, which is also located on the same campus as the degree college, told The Hindu that her three friends, all seniors, have planned to discontinue their college education as they were unable to afford the fees.
“Students were getting free education at the college before it became autonomous. These two degree colleges used to be the only ray of hope for us to bring our families out of poverty by pursuing higher education. Other degree colleges are too far away,” the student who has just completed her second year of Intermediate says, requesting anonymity. Her mother, a widow, works at a showroom in the city.
Now, the 18-year-old student, along with ten others like her in One Town, regularly participates in programmes organised to highlight the issue so that they make informed choices while exercising their vote.
“Though studying engineering has become a costly affair these days, we are hoping to secure good marks so that we can get admissions through scholarships,” she says.
