HYDERABAD: Former Health Minister T. Harish Rao raised concerns on Wednesday that the recently issued GO 33 by the Medical and Health Department might reclassify Telangana students as non-locals within their own state.
Addressing the media at Telangana Bhavan, Harish Rao urged the state government to revise GO 33 and establish new rules for admissions to professional colleges to safeguard the interests of Telangana students.
“We call on the government to take immediate action. We are prepared to offer suggestions if an all-party meeting is convened,” Harish Rao stated.
Harish Rao contested Health Minister Damodar Rajanarsimha’s explanation of the GO, arguing that students from Telangana who pursued education in other states might be considered non-locals if they return to Telangana for further studies.
He highlighted that the AP Reorganisation Act of 2014 mandated that 85 percent of seats in professional institutions across the three regions of the undivided state—Telangana, Andhra, and Rayalaseema—be reserved for locals, with the remaining 15 percent open to all. This arrangement was set to continue for 10 years and expired on June 2, 2024.
Harish Rao criticized the state government for maintaining the old system rather than devising new regulations. He emphasized that the BRS
government had increased MBBS seats from 2,850 to 9,000, with 85 percent reservation for locals in pre-existing colleges and 100 percent allocation for Telangana students in newly established colleges, adding 520 seats. Additionally, the BRS government had ensured that B category seats in private medical colleges were reserved for local students, resulting in 1,071 seats across 24 colleges.
Despite these measures, Harish Rao argued that the benefits were being undermined by the new GO. He pointed out that the new GO only recognizes students as locals if they have studied for four consecutive years in one region before the qualifying examination, a change from the previous requirement, which allowed students with at least seven years of education in the combined state to be considered local.
The new GO, he warned, could disadvantage Telangana students who study outside the state for intermediate or coaching courses, potentially affecting their status for PG admissions. He suggested adopting a policy similar to Tamil Nadu’s, where securing an MBBS seat requires studying from grades six to ten with parents having permanent residence in the state, and urged Telangana to develop its own regulations akin to those in Karnataka and Kerala.