Anti-reservation agitators in no mood to withdraw stir

Bangalore, May 30 (UNI) Ignoring the Supreme Court warning to withdraw the anti-reservation strike, IT professionals and junior doctors in Karnataka stuck to their stand of continuing the stir against the Union Government's decision to provide 27 per cent reservation to OBCs in higher educational institutions.

''We have the highest regard for the Supreme Court. However, there is no question of withdrawing our agitation till a consensus is arrived at. We will continue to agitate peacefully. We may now change the mode of our agitation and concentrate more on rallies, discussions and other peaceful means of showing our resentment to the Government's decision,'' Kumar Gaurav, member of 'Youth for Equality', an organisation spearheading the anti-reservation agitation, said today.

Speaking to UNI, he said the agitators, including junior doctors and medicos, were holding meetings at college level. ''We are likely to arrive at a decision tonight. However, we do not want to dissapoint those who have shown sympathy by supporting us throughout the nation,'' he added.

Representatives of junior doctors associations in various cities in Karnataka said the decision to withdraw the agitation would depend on the stand taken by their leaders at AIIMS in Delhi. The junior doctors would be holding meetings at the local level this evening and would organise a statewide rally on June three.

Meanwhile, medical college students attended classes, wearing black badges. They continued their protests like relay hunger strike, staging street plays and candlelight protests.

Barring junior doctors in Mysore and Davangere, others in cities like Bangalore, Hubli, Belgaum, Bellary, Manipal and Gulbarga attended work in Government and designated medical college hospitals. However, inflow of outpatients remained thin in various places for the last one week following the agitation.

Outpatient wards in Bapuji and CG hospitals in Davangere remained closed. In Mysore, junior doctors continued to boycott OPD and continued hunger strike. However, service at the K R Hospital was not affected as Government appointed doctors brought from different places in the district took care of the patients.

UNI Team-RS GD MA PM1726