Gandhinagar, May 29 (IANS): The Gujarat government is all set to implement 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections in medical and engineering colleges among the non-reserved categories of students soon.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel told reporters here on Wednesday that the government would proportionately increase the number of seats in medical and engineering colleges in the state to ensure that the quota benefits to Scheduled Castes and Tribes as well as Other Backward Classes (OBCs) remain intact.

Accordingly, there will be an increase of 6,509 seats in all spheres of medical education, including general medicine, dental, ayurvedic, and homoeopathy. With this, Gujarat will have 38,699 seats, up from 31,890 at present.

Similarly, the total number of engineering seats in 73 colleges in Gujarat would go up from 42,617 to 43,270.

Patel said, "According to the decision of the central government, the 10 per cent reservation would be available on merit to only those with annual income of less than Rs 8 lakh."