Kota suicides: Senior govt official holds meeting with collector, coaching institutes

A day after two NEET aspirants committed suicide in Kota, a senior official of the Rajasthan government held a meeting with the Kota collector and other officials through video conference. Representatives of coaching institutes and hostel associations also attended the meeting chaired by Bhawani Singh Detha, principal secretary (higher and technical education), officials said. The other officials who attended the meeting included Kota Collector O P Bunkar, SP Sharad Chaudhary, Additional Collector (Administration) Rajkumar Singh, and Additional SP Bhagwat Singh Hingad. Detha is also the chairman of a committee formed on the direction of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to look into the issue. The committee will also visit Kota soon. On August 18, CM Gehlot held a meeting of all the stakeholders and directed to form the committee which will submit its report within 15 days. Two students, preparing for competitive exams in Kota, allegedly committed suicide on Sunday, in a span of four hours. According to authorities, 22 students have ended their lives so far in 2023 – the highest for any year. Last year, the figure was 15. More than two lakh students move to Kota, a coaching hub, annually to prepare for competitive exams such as the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) for admission to engineering institutes and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for medical colleges.