Touts have a finger on the pulse of a college admission process; they mostly surface right when it begins. They loiter around a college and set their eyes on any student checking out the admission chart. Since no parent wants his/her child to waste a year, they are willing to beg, borrow from relatives if the money can get them a confirmed seat.
Winning the target’s trust is the credo that most such touts live by. And they do all it takes to lay the trap — put on their best smile, patiently listen as the target spills his/her grievances, declare that they are on best terms with the highest echelons in the college management and then offer help for a ‘nominal’ fee — which most claim is just donation to the institution.
The targets are mostly aspirants to engineering institutions, B-schools and medical colleges who failed to score well in board examinations or entrance tests. Parents who have been duped often fight shy of registering a police complaint as they fear that their child’s future would be jeopardised. It’s mostly because of this that such touts have a free run.
But as thousands of admission seekers queue up to enrol in colleges of Greater Noida, Knowledge Park is a tout’s lodestone. There are a total of 87 colleges in the area with more than two lakh aspirants every year trying to grab a seat in engineering, management and medicine.
These brokers have a unique modus operandi: they pose as college students and offer a slew of services. Their glib talk comes with a hefty price tag. The negotiation for seats varies between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, often touching more than Rs 50 lakh for a plum medical seat. Their complicity with the college management helps them in convincing students and parents. They bankroll under the very nose of the district administration.
Several colleges, though, trash such an allegation. They claim that time and again, they have been warning students to stay away from such touts.
“Colleges though have started charging extra fee in the last few seasons. Earlier, one needed to pay Rs 5 lakh donation to secure a BTech seat in a reputed college, but now it comes at nothing less than Rs 10 lakh. We take around 30 per cent share of the total amount charged from the aspirant while the remaining amount is disbursed among college staff that helps in managing the entire affair,” said a tout.
The university administration has warned students to not to fall into such a trap and instead adhere to prescribed admission guidelines. “Students should keep following the university’s website that provides updates and counselling to admission seekers. We are regularly updating admission information. Students either download the form or visit the campus. There should be no other way to seek admission,” said a Mahamaya Technical University (MTU) official.
“There are many who fall prey to the machinations of these agents offering seats in the chosen course and the preferred college,” a said a college official requesting anonymity.