Ayurvedic college students start hunger strike

Berhampur: Students of govt-run Kaviraj Anant Tripathy Sharma (KATS) Ayurvedic College, Ankushpur, near here started a hunger strike from Monday after their seven-day agitation, alleging irregularities in the examination results and harassment by college authorities. "We started our agitation at the main gate from June 3. We launched the hunger strike from Monday as our demands were not met. The strike will continue till the demand is fulfilled," said R K Upadhaya, a final year student.Despite the district administration trying to convince the agitators, they are firm on their demands and locked up the principal's office. The agitating students have written a letter to chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi seeking immediate action against teachers, who have harassed them.Biswajit Rana, a IIIrd year student alleged that 20 out of 66 first year students failed in the first year examination which was published on Monday. Last year, 23 out of 53 students failed in first year. The results are not published on time, he said. The college authorities also imposed fines on the students for silly matters.An officer from the Ayush department inquired into their allegations on May 20, when they submitted a memorandum to the chief minister. Due to their strike, patient care services were not hampered, the agitators said.College principal Bipin Bihari Khuntia said as per norms of the National Commission for the Indian System of Medicines (NCISM), the double valuation for evaluation of answer papers was introduced since 2020-21. "Some students could not clear their examinations due to this system. They, however, cleared the supplementary examination. The college was not responsible for it," he said. "Academic in-charge of the college has warned students, who were not attending classes regularly. The college will not develop unless a disciplined atmosphere prevails in the campus," he added.