Students arrive at KEA campus, wait for updates

Many candidates hoping to enter engineering colleges in the state arrived in the city anyway, despite the notification about the delay in counselling, which was earlier scheduled to begin on Friday.

The counselling process had to be put on hold as there was no confirmation from the All India Council for Technical Education about the number of seats available in engineering colleges in the state.

“We got the message about the delay while we were in the train, already on our way here. We could not do any thing. We just had to travel the rest of the way and arrive here. The authorities should have informed us at least one week ago. My husband and I had taken leave from our office. We cannot send our son alone for counselling to the city. He has already secured a good rank in AIEEE, so he might pick up a seat through that instead,” said Lalitha P, the mother of a candidate who had arrived from Andhra Pradesh.
Outstation candidates are especially sore that the whole process has been delayed. “We reached the city two days ago, expecting that we would head for the counselling session on Friday.

There is, as yet, no clear indication of when the counselling process would start. My whole family came alone, and with the unnerving uncertainty about when the whole process will begin, we have no option but to head right back to Munnar,” said Ravi T, whose son is a candidate.

Many candidates and their families who had travelled from further away, however, felt they were left with no option but to continue staying in the city. Candidates had come to the city from Andhra Pradesh and Kerala; some even came from Jammu and Kashmir. Joshi S, a parent, made the trip to the campus of the KEA in the morning, even though he already knew of the dates being shifted. “I got the message about the postponement. Nevertheless, I wanted to check whether there were any updates,” he said.

KEA authorities expressed helplessness: “Many candidates from across the country called us about the delay. We are as helpless as they are,” said SP Kulkarni, administrative officer, KEA.