Tripura Higher Education Minister Kishor Barman on Wednesday, June 24, said the state government has initiated efforts to restore reserved seats for Tripura students in government engineering institutions in West Bengal.

During a meeting with West Bengal Higher Education Minister Jagannath Chattopadhyay at Bikash Bhavan in Kolkata, Barman raised the issue of reinstating reserved seats for students from Tripura in government engineering colleges in the neighbouring state, including the Government College of Engineering and Textile Technology at Serampore and Berhampore.

According to Barman, the West Bengal minister assured him that the matter would be examined and necessary steps would be taken at the earliest to restore the reserved seats.

The Tripura minister said the initiative was aimed at safeguarding the higher education interests of students from the state and expanding their access to quality technical and professional education.

Barman claimed that the reserved seats for Tripura students had been discontinued under the previous government in West Bengal.

He described the discussions as a positive step towards strengthening academic cooperation between the two states and creating more opportunities for students seeking admission to reputed engineering institutions.

If the reserved seats are reinstated, students from Tripura are expected to benefit from improved access to engineering and technical education programmes in West Bengal, officials said.