Parents ask State government to consider Telangana-born students as locals for MBBS admission

GO No 33 has left Telangana NEET aspirants from border districts ineligible for MBBS local quota admissions. Parents allege injustice, citing decades of residence and urging humanitarian relief for affected students

Khammam: The GO No 33 issued by the Congress government has put the aspirations of scores of candidates from Khammam district seeking MBBS admission in the current academic year after qualifying in NEET in limbo.

The GO, which specifies the local status criteria for admission into MBBS courses under the Competent Authority Quota (CAQ), has deprived local status to students who studied their intermediate in Andhra Pradesh.

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The parents of these students are running from pillar to post to get the issue resolved, but no one is addressing their grievances. Speaking to Telangana Today, a parent, S Venugopal of Aswaraopet in Kothagudem, said his daughter completed SSC in Telangana but was sent to Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh for intermediate as Hyderabad was too far from their place.

“We were born in Telangana, grew up here, and have been living here for the last 40 to 50 years. We have Telangana Aadhaar cards, ration cards, and voter cards. To ensure better education, we sent our children to Vijayawada,” he said.

Venugopal pointed out that GO 33, issued on July 19, 2024, was implemented without prior information, and students who had already completed their intermediate before the order was passed are now unfairly deprived of their local status. He added that around 40 students from border districts are facing similar problems and urged the government to consider their cases on humanitarian grounds and allow them to participate in NEET counselling.

Meanwhile, the case of G Sai Ritika of Bhadrachalam highlights the confusion further. She completed schooling at St Ann’s High School in Purushothapatnam, which was once part of Telangana but merged with Andhra Pradesh. She later finished intermediate in Hyderabad.

However, since she did her schooling in AP, she is categorised as a ‘non-local’ in Telangana’s medical counselling process. Her father, Ashok Kumar, who has lived in Bhadrachalam for over 40 years, lamented that though his daughter was born and brought up in Telangana, she is still denied local status.