Medical college students stage protest over erratic power supply

Ravi Dhaliwal

Pathankot, July 11

Around 170 students of the second and third year of the White Medical College and Hospital staged a protest against the management in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) claiming they are being forced to spend nights in complete darkness following erratic electricity supply.

The students have decided to spend the night outside the DC office before leaving for their home in the morning. They said they had taken the step as they feared a backlash from the management during the night. “We have informed our parents who will be coming tomorrow morning,” one of the demonstrators said.

The students said in a press note that when they complained to the management last night about the inadequate infrastructure, they were “mentally and physically harassed”.

They alleged that when the chairman of the management committee was informed, “he started physically abusing them”.

“We were attacked with shoes and stone and later some of us were also slapped. Aspersions on the character of our girl students were cast by the Managing Director. The chairman was not in his sense when he came to talk to us last night. The security personnel accompanying the chairman threatened to put us behind the bars. For the last two years, we have been grappling with the problem of low voltage leading to our coolers and other electrical appliances not working. The water supply to our hostels is also erratic. Practical work is not being done in our college. The faculty is also under-staffed. We demand strict action against the management,” they said.

The students later got in touch with Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa who assured them that he will take up the issue with the authorities concerned. Swaran Salaria, who recently joined AAP, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.