Hyderabad: As the protest against Government Order 97 continues across Telangana, polytechnic students in Nalgonda stopped the convoy of Telangana Cinematography Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy on Friday, August 21, and urged him to stop the order from being implemented.

One of the students spoke to Reddy and said, “If the GO is implemented, our diploma would be rendered useless, and we can’t get admissions into desired courses.” To this, the minister replied that the government had taken the initiative to provide jobs to students from all streams.

Why are students protesting?

The students of polytechnic colleges across Telangana are protesting against Government Order 97, which aims to merge polytechnic colleges with ITIs and Apprentice Training Centres under the newly formed Shakti department.

It was issued by the Telangana government on July 3, which renamed the Labour, Employment, Training and Factories Department as SHAKTI, short for Skill, Human Capital and Knowledge Training Initiatives, and brought polytechnic colleges under the ambit of the Young India Skill University.

Earlier this week, protests were held at Ramanthapur, Musi Tank Bund, and reportedly in Ramnaspura and Bahadurpura, triggering traffic snarls across several stretches in Hyderabad.