VIJAYAWADA: The Communist Party of India (CPI) staged a protest at Dharna Chowk on Thursday opposing the Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to implement the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model in government medical colleges.
CPI national secretary K Ramakrishna has alleged that the government is handing over key sectors — including education, healthcare, and public institutions — to private entities under the guise of PPP.
Addressing the gathering, Ramakrishna said that transferring government medical colleges, land, and buildings — constructed with Central approvals — to private hands amounted to clear privatisation.
He criticised the government for ‘surrendering assets worth thousands of crores’ and warned that such policies would push essential services beyond the reach of the poor.
He argued that when centrally run institutions like AIIMS are functioning successfully, there is no justification for adopting the PPP model in state medical colleges.
CPI leaders demanded the immediate cancellation of the government orders related to PPP and vowed to continue statewide agitations until the decision is withdrawn.
They said the education sector was already dominated by private institutions, with 70% of primary, 80% of intermediate, and nearly 90% of engineering colleges under private management.
CPI city secretary G Koteswara Rao criticised the previous GO 107 and 108 issued during the earlier government, stating that payment-seat policies had already harmed poor and middle-class students.