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Bond policy row: MBBS students begin indefinite hunger strike
The students demanded cancellation of an FIR registered against 300 MBBS students last month ahead of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s visit to the institute
: Two days after the Haryana government notified the amended bond policy for the MBBS students, the protesting medical students at Rohtak’s Post-graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) started indefinite hunger strike, demanding cancellation of an FIR registered against 300 MBBS students last month ahead of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s visit to the institute.
The protesters also demanded to hold a meeting with government officials over their academic loss in the last 53 days due to the stir.
Priya Kaushik, one of the representatives of the protesting students, said a total of 10 students have started indefinite hunger strike until their demands are met.
“The government should cancel the FIR registered against protesting medical students for rioting and other offences. The government should also share its plan to compensate for our academic loss as the protesting students of Haryana’s medical colleges have been sitting on dharna for the last 53 days,” she added.
As many as 300 MBBS students, protesting against the Haryana government’s bond policy, were booked for rioting after they were forcibly removed from the protest site inside the PGIMS campus here in the wee hours on November 6 ahead of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s visit to the institute.
Other medical students said that PGIMS authorities shall postpone the exams starting from December 26 as the protesters need time to cover their syllabus.
MBBS students at Rohtak’s PGIMS, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Medical College in Chhainsa, Karnal’s Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College, SHKM Government Medical College in Nalhar, and BPS Government Medical College for Women in Khanpur Kalan of Sonepat, are protesting against the bond policy.
The Haryana government on Wednesday notified a watered-down amended bond policy, reducing the mandatory period laid down for MBBS pass outs to serve the government from seven to five years and effected a 30% reduction in the bond amount.
