Guwahati:
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday clarified that there is no proposal to privatise government engineering colleges and polytechnic institutes in the state.
"There is no such proposal. It is a wrong propaganda and a communication gap. I am making it clear that there is no proposal to privatise engineering colleges and polytechnic institutes," Gogoi said.
He said that the government wanted to give academic and financial autonomy to government engineering institutions under the Centre's new scheme for technical education quality improvement programme.
"But they don't want it and we have said okay," he added.
Urging students to stop their protests, the chief minister said, "There is no need for the students to go on agitation and waste their time from studies".
On Tuesday, Gogoi was heckled and his convoy blocked by Jorhat Engineering College students protesting against the proposed privatisation of engineering colleges.