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PU dental college students’ stir enters Day 6, OPD services hit
Sector-11 police issued a warning to them for vacating Gate Number 1 of the varsity that they have been blocking, blocking traffic movement
OPD services remained affected at Dr Harvansh Singh Judge Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Panjab University (PU), as the protest by the college students entered Day 6.
The students, demanding a hike in stipend, began their strike on Wednesday.
Sector-11 police issued a warning to them for vacating Gate Number 1 of the varsity that they have been blocking, blocking traffic movement.
The protesters, meanwhile, said they will continue their protest until their stipend was increased and brought on par with that offered to MBBS interns at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32.
On Sunday, additional solicitor general and PU senator Satya Pal Jain, along with former mayor and senator Davesh Moudgil, met the protesters and assured them that their demands will be taken up with the vice-chancellor (V-C)
“Doctors should be allowed to work in colleges and hospitals and should not be compelled to sit on dharnas,” Jain said, adding that he was hopeful that the matter will be resolved soon.
A third-year BDS student also alleged that faculty members had been issuing threats to the protesters, claiming that they will not allow them to fulfil their assigned quota for patients or they won’t be allowed to sit for exams due to attendance shortage.
The protesters are alleging that they receive a stipend between ₹9,000 and ₹10,000 per month, which is unchanged since 2009 and much lower than the other institutes of the region.
The PU senate had also decided to increase their stipend in 2022 but it hasn’t happened till now. Meanwhile, PU officials claim that this is a self-financed course and they can’t increase the stipend to match that of institutes like GMCH, where MBBS interns are paid ₹26,500,
