Minister welcomes consensus candidate for Chamundeshwari

Hubli, Nov 15 (UNI) Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr V S Acharya today termed as a welcome change the decision of coalition partners Janata Dal (Secular) and Bharatiya Janata Party to field a common candidate against former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Chamundeshwari byelection.

Talking to newspersons here, he exuded confidence that the consensus candidate would win comfortably.

To a question, the Minister said the Government would release Rs five crore by March next to set up a lab and a trauma centre at the prestigious Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences here. The centre would start functioning from the first week of March 2007.

Dr Acharya said that on the occasion of golden jubilee of KIMS, the Government had released Rs 50 lakh for renovation of old buildings and relaying the garden and roads on the premises.

To another question, he said the Government had decided to improve upon the present system of Common Entrance Test (CET) to professional courses in consultation with Comed-K. Two meetings have been held with Comed-K and another meeting was likely in December.

''Admissions will be streamlined from the next academic year as per the directions of the Supreme Court. The Government is happy the way CET was conducted this year and there will be more free seats, giving scope for poor and meritorious students next year,'' he added.

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