Union minister Nitin Gadkari has sought Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's intervention to expedite much-delayed admissions to medical courses offered by the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS). In a letter dated March 9 to CM Shinde and Chief Secretary Manukumar Srivastava, Gadkari said the admission process for courses offered by the CPS in other states is nearly complete.
But admissions to nearly 1,100 seats in CPS-affiliated colleges in Maharashtra are delayed, he said. If the process is not completed quickly, the next academic year will start and this year's seats will be wasted, he said.
Mumbai-based CPS is an autonomous body and runs two-year diploma and three-year fellowship medical courses. "As per the available information, negative approach of Medical Education Secretary Dr Ashwini Joshi has played a significant role in the admission process getting delayed," Gadkari said further in the letter. The government should intervene in the matter and expedite the admission process, he said. In a statement released on Thursday evening, Gadkari, BJP MP from Nagpur, also clarified that he had not sought transfer of any official. "As a a public representatives, it is our utmost duty to raise issues of public importance with different authorities and (I) have been doing so in my long political career.
"My letter on the subject matter to Hon’ble Chief Minister and Chief Secretary has served the exact purpose. Nothing can be more away from truth that I had recommended transfer of concerned officer in the Medical Education department. It is also equally laughable to suggest that my family has some personal interest in the matter," he added, referring to a media report.
