‘Stipend issue to be discussed in academic council on Jul 14’

Ludhiana: The veterinary student union of Gadvasu continued to protest on Wednesday for the increase in stipend. The OPD services of Gadvasu veterinary hospital remained suspended and the gate number 5 of the university was blocked for three hours by the protesting students. The chain hunger strike was observed by five girl students.
Earlier, Gadvasu’s vice-chancellor Dr Inderjit Singh held a meeting with the student representatives and said the issue will be taken up in the academic council meeting to be held on July 14 and the university board of management, which will be held on July 20. But the students continued the protest.
BVSc and animal sciences course, comprising five and a half professional years, includes a compulsory 1-year internship programme for which the monthly stipend given to the students is Rs 3,200 from the university and Rs 3,000 from ICAR.
But the students said the interns of other universities get a lot more — Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University pays Rs 17,000, the Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences pays Rs 14,000 and Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University gives 17,000. Moreover, the studenmts said there has been no increase in the stipend of Rs 3,200 in eight years.