BHUBANESWAR:Around 250 students of pharmaceutical sciences of Utkal University on Tuesday alleged that the varsity’s failure to comply with the provisions of Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) has put their future at risk.
The students, who have been protesting on the campus for the last two days, met Vice Chancellor of Utkal University SM Patnaik seeking an immediate solution to the issue.In October 2016, PCI had informed the university authorities that pharmaceutical sciences course cannot be approved due to certain deficiencies from 2016-17 academic session. However, the authorities managed to get conditional approval and recruited two more batches of students for the course.
The PCI in April this year had asked the authorities to comply with the norms within six months failing which the university may lose approval for the course. The pharmacy students alleged that the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences lacks infrastructure and adequate faculty.
A student said the department has only one classroom for five batches of students due to which classes are being held in the seminar hall and laboratory. Studies have also bee affected as the faculty is on strike for the last seven days demanding salary at par with their counterparts in other departments, he added.
The students threatened to intensify the protest if their demands are not met soon.