Crisis worsens: Parents say shift wards out of Gian Sagar college
The crisis at the Gian Sagar Medical College and Hospital has escalated as hundreds of parents joined disgruntled faculty members in demanding the college management be shunted out.
The crisis at the Gian Sagar Medical College and Hospital has escalated as hundreds of parents joined disgruntled faculty members in demanding the college management be shunted out.
The parents also demanded that their children be shifted to some other college by the government, a clamour similar to that of students of the Chintpurni Medical College and Hospital (CMCH).
The authorities recently ordered 141 CMCH students to be adjusted in eight other medical colleges until CMCH secured a stay against it in the Supreme Court.
Academic activities at Gian Sagar have been suspended for the last 40 days due to a protest by staff members over non-payment of salary.
Govt tells Gian Sagar medical college to pay staff by April 30
A major worry for parents is that the deadlock could affect the final exam of the first-year MBBS students which is scheduled to be held anytime in May or June.
Raj Bahadur, vice-chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, which conducts the medical exams, said students will be allowed to sit for the exam only if they had the mandatory 75% attendance corum.
For Gian Sagar, that would be a distant possibility if students continue to miss classes. “Nothing can be said before the college submits its attendance register to the university,” Bahadur said.
UP Singh, who is leading the worried parents, told HT that the protesting faculty members and parents will meet on Wednesday to seek a permanent solution to the problem.
He said the crisis had spilled beyond clearing of salaries and there was consensus now that the state government should either shift children out of Gian Sagar or take over the college management.
This is not the first time that classes have been suspended in the college: last September, academic activities were suspended for 10 days.
And the government has also in the past taken over the Gian Sagar Educational and Charitable Trust, which governs the college, for public good.
Students gherao CM’s aide
Meanwhile, more than 200 students of the college surrounded chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s aide Harcharan Bains on Tuesday when he visited the campus to enquire about the health of actor Satish Kaul. The students were demanding the CM’s intervention to resume classes.
The students are also learnt to have sent a letter to the Union human resource ministry and the Medical Council of India to apprise them of the situation.
November salary paid, faculty still adamant
Under pressure, the college management paid the staff on Tuesday the salary for November salary. However, staff members said they will not resume classes until all dues till March were cleared. “We have also been assured by the government that the management will run the college effectively,” a staff member said.
