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Activists, politicos demand inquiry in PMC-run medical college admission process
Dean of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College, run by the Pune Municipal Corporation Medical Education Trust was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau on Tuesday for accepting a ₹10 lakh bribe to offer an MBBS seat
After Ashish Bangirwar, the dean of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College, run by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Medical Education Trust was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday for accepting a ₹10 lakh bribe to offer an MBBS seat; political and civic activists have demanded an inquiry of all the admissions done under management quota for the current and previous year.
Civic activist Vivek Velankar wrote a letter to the medical education department demanding an inquiry in the admission process.
“There are 100 seats for the course, of which 15 are under management quota. Apart from the prescribed fees, the dean asked for additional money and was caught while accepting cash on Tuesday. A four-member committee including municipal commissioner, additional municipal commissioner, health department head and dean are incharge of the admission process. It is unlikely, that the dean will demand and accept the bribe while keeping other committee members in the dark,” stated Velankar.
“The college started a year ago and there must be an inquiry of all the admissions processed so far,” he added.
As per the complaint, the complainant’s son had cleared the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2023 exam and was allotted a seat at Medical College in the first admission round of Centralised Admission Process (CAP). When the complainant approached the dean for admission process, the latter allegedly demanded ₹16 lakh in addition to the ₹22.50 lakh annual admission fee.
Former deputy mayor and Republican Party of India (Athawale) leader Dr Siddharth Dhende has also raised various objections about the college and the contract between PMC and medical trust.
Aam Aadmi Party’s Abhijit More said, “Earlier there was no management quota in any government-run medical college. The the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) brought this formula from Gujarat and introduced Ahmedabad pattern in Pune. Now the results are in front of public.”
Congress party’s leader Sanjay Balgude said, “There are many errors in the approval of this medical college. We are demanding to conduct an inquiry of the entire admission process.”
Congress leaders protest
Earlier in the day, Congress leaders led by Kasba Peth MLA Ravindra Dhangekar staged protest and demanded comprehensive probe of all the admissions under management quota for current and previous year. The Congress workers also threw ink at the name plate of the dean. “Within two years, there is a case of corruption that has come out in front of everyone. We have been getting complaints that previously too money was accepted for giving admissions,” said Dhangekar.
Later MNS workers led by Prashant Kanojiya and advocate Sachin Pawar staged protest and vandalised the dean’s cabin.
