Certification to take more than a month, EWS medical aspirants left in lurch
Kolkata: Medical aspirants belonging to the 'Economically Weaker Section' (EWS) who are supposed to enjoy 10 percent reservation in medical admission are confused as the entire procedure of getting a certificate would take more than a month while the verification date has been fixed on July 23.
Many medical aspirants belonging to the EWS have expressed their concern on how to get their certification done before the due date when the verification is scheduled to be conducted at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on July 23. It was alleged that in most of the districts, the administrative officials have been denying the issuance of the certificate regarding their eligibility. They are supposed to issue these certificates after assessing the property of their families.
Many medical aspirants have alleged that they were told by the local administration that the latter are yet to receive any instruction from the state Health department in this regard. According to the norms, the candidates belonging to the EWS category in the districts have to go to the Block Development Officers (BDO) and the BLROs giving a detailed account of their land and other property. The BDOs and BLROs then have to visit the spot to carry out an examination determining the worth of the property and eventually submit a report to the Sub-Divisional Officers (SDOs) on the basis of their observation. The BDOs and BLROs are expected to check the eligibility of the medical aspirants who are seeking reservation in medical admission under the EWS category.
The candidates are supposed to get the certificates from the SDOs. Many of them have alleged that they were told that no such instruction was delivered to the issuing authorities by the West Bengal University of Health Sciences (WBUHS).
A candidate belonging to the EWS claimed that some certificates have been issued by the East Midnapore district administration while all the other districts refused to issue such certificates. As a result, the candidates are in a dilemma as to what path they have to follow to get their certification done.
"Even if the local administration agrees to hand over the eligibility certificate to the candidates, it would take nearly a month to complete the process. How will the candidates then take part in the verification on July 23 unless the district administration issues the eligibility certificate within a stipulated time," an EWS medical aspirant said on condition of anonymity.
Dr AK Maity, a city-based expert on medical education, said: "There are around 5,000 candidates belonging to the EWS category in the state. They will face difficulties unless the WBUHS conducts camps to issue the certificates on a war footing."
