Reservation rage spreads like wildfire in MP

Bhopal, May 16 (UNI) Amidst a rash of strikes and protest demonstrations in Madhya Pradesh's medical and technical colleges against the proposal for reservation in higher education institutions, only one organisation actually came forward in support of HRD Minister Arjun Singh's move.

While political parties and other organisations chose to maintain a discreet silence over this potentially-explosive issue, Gwalior's Active Jatav Group raised its voice in the proposal's favour with the logic that society's ''deprived and weak'' segment should get its due.

As a direct consequence of junior doctors' strikes in Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur and Rewa, medical services have come to a halt at college-linked hospitals.

''Junior docs tonsured themselves here and we will protest until the last breath,'' said Madhya Pradesh Junior Doctors' Association Secretary Piyush Vyas. The physicians planned to take out a torchlit procession this evening.

Patients bore the brunt of the agitation at Indore's Maharaja Yashwant Rao Hospital where the Junior Doctors' Association shut off emergency services. The IMA's Indore branch also opened an anti-reservation front and condemned the proposal as vote bank politics.

''Tomorrow, Indore's physicians will wear black bands to work and a rally is scheduled for May 18,'' said senior IMA official S N Goyal.

Services were affected at Jabalpur's Subhas Chandra Bose Medical College and Hospital. The junior docs have pitched a tent in front of the premises and propose to go on an indefinite strike.

UNI Team-AC SY HS1929