Row over stipend to shifted students

Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service
Faridkot, September 18

A demand of Rs 48,720 monthly stipend by students of postgraduate medical courses of now closed Gian Sagar Medical College has stirred a controversy.

After the closure of Gian Sagar College in May 2017, eight postgraduate students of anesthesia and surgery were shifted to Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital (GGSMCH), Faridkot, to complete the remaining two years of their courses.

According to the Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000, issued by the MCI, the students pursuing postgraduate courses shall be paid stipend on a par with those studying in government medical institutions. While all other postgraduate students in the GGSMCH were getting Rs 48,720 monthly stipend, eight pupils shifted from Gian Sagar were not paid any stipend between June 2017 and April 2018.

The GGSMCH declined to pay them the stipend as they were shifted from other college. They were accepted in the Faridkot medical college on the directions of the state government in view of the closure of Gian Sagar College to help them complete their course, so they are not eligible for the stipend, said the college authorities.

Shifted students, however, said they were paying Rs 6.5 lakh per annum fee and performing over 12 hours of duty daily so they should be given stipend on the pattern of other postgraduate students. After these students raised a hue and cry, the GGSMCH paid them Rs 24,360 (half) stipend from May 2018 to end of their courses in May 2019.

Demanding arrears, these students had even approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court in January, this year.