CM pays surprise visit to Alipore CU campus

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday paid a surprise visit to the Alipore campus of Calcutta University on Friday morning.

The guardians, who were waiting anxiously outside the gate of CU's Alipore campus with their wards engaged in counselling for B.Ed inside, were taken aback with Banerjee suddenly coming down from her car and enquiring whe-

ther they were facing any difficulty.

"We were waiting at the gate when we saw the Chief Minister's convoy passing by us. She was probably heading to the state secretariat Nabanna. She passed by us and within a few seconds we saw her car turning back and coming towards us. She came down from the car and asked what was happening and why we had assembled there," said Suresh Valmiki, a guardian.

"We told her that B.Ed counselling was going on and our wards had gone inside. She asked us whether we were facing any difficulty and when we informed that everything was perfectly all right, she asked the security guards whether everything was okay and left. Her stay lasted little more than a minute and she did not enter the varsity campus," another guardian said.

He informed that the Chief Minister has told them to contact her office if they face any difficulty. The B.Ed counselling as well as the form submission for M.Ed was going on and a substantial number of guardians had assembled at the campus gate.

It may be mentioned that Banerjee, while on her way to Nabanna, had paid a surprise visit to Ashutosh College on Monday and talked to students, their parents and officials at the online desk, to take stock of the ongoing admission process in the college.

She had reiterated that if someone is found asking for money for personal interest in the garb of admission aid, stern action will be taken against him/her.

The state Higher Education department on Tuesday issued a circular, informing the colleges that counselling for admission to undergraduate courses must be strictly online and physical verification of documents, if required, can be done only during the commencement of classes.

The decision for the clampdown on counselling in campuses and physical verification of documents before admission, came in the wake of complaints of cash demand for admission, allegedly by a section of student unions across campuses.