GO 97 meets the Clock Tower
A report says Nalgonda polytechnic students confronted Komatireddy Venkat Reddy over the SHAKTI merger, fearing their diplomas and ECET route could be diluted. The government says nothing changes. The order itself is still not public here.
Students are seeking clarity on GO 97, ECET and diploma recognition; the order has not been made public in the report.
A report published on August 21 says polytechnic students in Nalgonda stopped Cinematography Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy’s convoy near the Clock Tower and demanded the rollback or non-implementation of Government Order 97. One student is quoted telling the minister, “If the GO is implemented, our diploma would be rendered useless, and we can’t get admissions into desired courses.” The clip linked in the report sits behind a 403 wall, so the confrontation is reported but not independently corroborated yet.
What is on the record in the same report: Labour and Employment Minister Vivek Venkatswamy has been saying the restructuring is administrative — polytechnic colleges move under the Commissionerate of Employment and Training; three-year AICTE-recognised diplomas continue; admissions, exams and fees stay as they are; and the polytechnic wing of SBTET functions as a separate unit. That is his stated position; the text of GO 97 dated July 3, 2026 was not located on a government site in this search.
Students’ wider fear, recorded in another report, is about ECET — the lateral-entry bridge into BTech — and about the future of SBTET and staff service conditions. Protests have been reported in Hyderabad and other districts. The Nalgonda convoy stop itself is presently single-source.
The Congress government in Telangana owes students a document, not just assurances: publish GO 97, clause by clause, and state in writing what happens to ECET, diploma recognition and SBTET authority. Until then, a Clock Tower is doing the transparency work the file should have done.