Karnataka’s Legislative Council plunged into a logjam on Thursday evening with Janata Dal (Secular) members, who suspected a “scam” in approving new nursing and allied health colleges in the State in 2020, insisting on setting up a House committee to probe into the irregularities. Rejecting the demand, the ruling party committed to a probe by the government, resulting in fracas.
JD(S) members alleged that there was a scam in according approval to 47 nursing colleges and 45 allied health colleges and said RGUHS rules had been thrown to the wind.
Earlier, while BJP member N. Ravikumar, who raised the issue, said the newly approved nursing and allied health sciences colleges were not in order, Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar announced that the government would probe the matter and place it before the House for consideration.
However, JD(S) members seized the moment and demanded a House committee to probe the issue since there were multiple allegations of irregularities. For over an hour, the House business was affected as JD(S) members trooped to the well raising slogans and mediation by Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti between the government and the JD(S) also failed to end the logjam.
Meanwhile, the Congress, which has boycotted six Ministers, including Dr. Sudhakar, urged the Chairman to consider the demand of the JD(S) members.
During discussion, JD(S) member Marithibbe Gowda said, “Rules of RGUHS have been violated in terms of recommending affiliation. There are no infrastructure and faculty, and bogus documents have been provided to secure approval.”
He cited an instance in Kundapur where two colleges had the same building address. He also said there were about 30 nursing colleges in Bidar where students from Kerala come only for examination.
Another JD(S) member Appaji Gowda said, “The biodata of faculty have been commonly used by different colleges.”
Another member K.T. Srikante Gowda said it was not a political blame game. “As many as 90% of nursing colleges do not have good infrastructure. Our demand for probe is to cover all colleges and is in the interest of people,” he said.
Dr. Sudhakar in his reply said, “Though 101 applications were received for nursing colleges, only 47 had been approved, and out of the 70 applications for allied health sciences, 45 had been approved by the high-powered committee headed by the Principal Secretary.” He also acknowledged that the numbers had been brought down from 60 for nursing and 52 for allied health sciences that the RGUHS had recommended. Nursing and paramedical staff shortage was profound during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. He said a task force had been set up to review infrastructure, and report had been sought in three months.
Not satisfied with the answer, the JD(S) members came to the well despite an appeal by Mr. Ravikumar, who had raised the issue, to accept the Minister’s reply. Eventually, Mr. Horatti adjourned the proceedings till Friday.
