Bhubaneswar, May 13: The state government today announced that it would increase nearly one lakh seats in the Plus Two colleges.

At present, a total of 3.59 lakh seats are available in the Plus Two colleges across the state.

"The increase has been made considering the good matriculation results this year," announced higher education minister Pradeep Panigrahi.

"The increase of seats in the individual colleges will be decided on the basis of their demand and infrastructure," he said. The minister made it clear that on an average there would be 20 per cent hike in the number of seats in each college. In cases, where infrastructure is good, the government may consider a bigger hike in the seat number, he said.

The Telegraph on May 9 had published a report "Seat shortfall worry for Plus Two students" on the unavailability of sufficient seats in Plus Two colleges across the state. This year, as many as 4.51 lakh students cleared the High School Certificate (HSC) examination. There are only 3.59 lakh seats available in all the Plus Two colleges of the state taken together.

The HSC results were announced on May 6.

The situation may turn worse if 58,000 students, who took the tests from the CBSE, and the 5,000 students, who appeared the ICSE examination, also decide to join the Plus Two courses.

The students appeared happy at the government's seat hike decision. "It's a great news. I wish they increase at least 20 seats in the science stream of BJB Junior College. Who will not like to study in a college that has a good faculty and well-equipped labs," said Sarmishtha Pradhan, who passed from Capital High School in the city.

Students hope that the numbers of seats in the science stream in major colleges, too, go up. "This will benefit a lot of students, who aim for technical courses. There is no point in increasing seats at colleges in the far-flung areas, where seats usually remain vacant," said Prateek, who also passed from the same school.

At present, the state has 1.16 lakh science, 1.98 lakh arts and 36,000 commerce seats.

College authorities and teachers also welcomed the decision. "It's a good decision, but the state government should also think of filling up the teachers' vacancies. The existing teaching staff members are overburdened," said Surendranath Prusty, a physics lecturer in a city college.