'Government's decision is wrong,' says Hooda extending support to students protesting against bond policy

NEW DELHI: Leader of the opposition in Haryana assembly Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday extended support to medical students agitating against the state government's bond policy and assured them of raising their issue in the House.

"The government's decision is wrong because poor and middle-class families will not be able to provide medical education to their children due to imposition of the bond policy," the Congress leader said in a statement after meeting with the protesting students.

"Medical institutions like the Cancer Institute and AIIMS came to Haryana only during the Congress government... Medical education was given to students at a nominal fee because the Congress government consider education a responsibility. But the BJP-JJP government is commercialising education," he said in the statement.

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MBBS students at Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak and some other medical colleges have been holding protests against some of the provisions of the bond policy. Their demands include a reduction in the duration of the compulsory government service from seven years to one and the bond default amount to not exceed Rs 5 lakh.

Despite the state government's assurance, some of the protesting students have said the condition that they will not be required to pay the bond fee at the time of admission will not serve the desired purpose as they will have to repay the loan amount to the bank with interest.

No student will have to deposit the Rs 10 lakh bond amount at the time of admission for MBBS in government colleges, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said recently. An official statement issued earlier had said they would instead have to sign a bond-cum-loan agreement of the amount with the college and the bank concerned.

"If the MBBS/MD passouts wish to join the state government and serve for seven years, the government will finance the bond amount. "But candidates who do not want to join government services in Haryana will have to pay the amount themselves," the statement had said.