CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government clim- bed down partially on Wednesday on the bond fee to be paid by students being admitted to government-run medical colleges in the state, with CM Manohar Lal Khattar saying MBBS students need not pay the bond amount of Rs 10 lakh per year. Instead, he said, they will only have to sign a “bond-cum-loan agreement” for the amount with the college and the concerned bank.
The partial climbdown came in the face of protests by over a thousand students from four government medical colleges in the state.
Now, as per Khattar, if on completing their degrees, MBBS/MD students wish to join state government service and serve for the specified seven years, the state government will finance the bond amount. But the rollback has a rider: Those who don’t want to join government service will have to pay the amount themselves, the CM said.
Reacting to this, Pankaj Bittu, a student, said they wouldn’t suspend their protest and would boycott counselling till they receive an amended notification.
“There are several aspects that are not clear. The state government’s new policy has denied the right to education to meritorious students who have cleared NEET but whose parents are unable to pay the hefty bond fee,” said Akshita, a second-year MBBS student.
“There is no guarantee of a government job after finishing the course. Then why should a student take a huge loan,” Bittu said.
Khattar also said the bachelor’s degrees of students who don’t join government hospitals will be issued only after the candidates have met all financial liabilities.
