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Protesting for hike in stipend: GADVASU intern on hunger strike for 4 days rushed to hospital
An intern at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), who had been on hunger strike for the past four days demanding hike in stipend, had to be rushed to the hospital after his condition deteriorated; the student, Shivam, was rushed to the civil hospital and his condition is stable
An intern at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), who had been on hunger strike for the past four days demanding hike in stipend, had to be rushed to the hospital after his condition deteriorated. The student, Shivam, was rushed to the civil hospital and his condition is stable.
Earlier in the day, Ludhiana West MLA Gurpreet Singh Gogi had spoken to the protesting students to convince them to lift the strike. Gogi also made representatives of the protesting students talk to cabinet minister Laljit Bhullar, who assured them their grievances will be addressed.
The situation turned tense when Bhullar invited a delegation of GADVASU students to Chandigarh so that the issue can be amicably resolved and urged them to end their hunger strike. At this, the protesting students said that if their demands are not addressed on Monday, they will resume their protest outside the minister’s office in Chandigarh.
At this, the minister said that issues are resolved through discussion and not by imposing conditions and threats. Gogi quickly intervened and told Bhullar that the students were agitated as their friend had been on hunger strike for the past four days.
After the state government failed to fulfil the demand of increasing stipend, students interning at GADVASU resumed their strike and commenced a chain hunger strike from June 12.
The protesting interns said, “Every time we meet a cabinet minister or local MLA, we just get an assurance, but it seems that the government does not want to increase the stipend. So, we have resumed the strike.”
The interns said that as per the stipend policy of Punjab government for GADVASU, they receive ₹6,200 per month. But, the interns receive ₹20,000 at Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU) and ₹20,000 at Banaras Hindu University. The stipend varies from ₹17,000 to ₹20,000 at veterinary universities in Haryana, Rajasthan and Karnataka, they said.
