Agitating Odisha Ayurvedic college students invoke Lord Ganesh, Dhanwantari for fulfillment of demands

Scores of Ayurvedic college students on Tuesday invoked Lord Ganesh and Dhanwantri and conducted a special puja for quick redressal of their demands. It is now almost 13 days that the students of Kaviraj Ananta Tripathy Sharma Ayurveda College on the outskirts of Berhampur have boycotted their studies and staged a dharna.

The students lit earthen lamps and chanted mantras for fulfilment of their demands.

“It is now 13 days that the Ayush students of seven Ayush Medical Colleges have been staging dharna and urging the Odisha government to fulfil our demands. Hence, we have now sought help from the deities,” said a student.

Another student said, “Not a single post has been created in the past 21 years while it has been done for pharmacy and others. We want the state government to create 500 homeopathic and 500 ayurvedic posts and 200 posts every year.”

The students alleged that the state government is not putting stress on the proper engagement of Ayush doctors for health services. “Most of the students, who are studying for 5.5 years are almost ending up being unemployed,” rued an agitating student.