BIET - Student's death triggers unrest at engineering college.

BIET / Orissa: Tension ran high on Bhadrak Institute of Engineering & Technology campus in Bhadrak district on Monday, after a student died due to alleged delay in shifting him to the hospital.

Police sources said that as soon as the news of the death spread, hundreds of students
went berserk and burnt down at least three buses of the college and damaged two more buses and as many cars. They also damaged furniture, doors and windows.

"Property worth over Rs 60 lakh have been destroyed during the students' unrest," said a college official.

The deceased person has been identified as Samir Patnaik, a second-year (IT branch) diploma student, a native of Angul district.

"He complained of chest pain and fainted in the morning. When we searched for a vehicle to take him to the hospital, about 10 km from the campus, the vehicle was not available. Although, we did manage to take him to the hospital later, but there the doctors declared him dead," said one of his classmates.

Though sources in the hospital said he died a natural death due to heart attack, the students claimed that if they would have got the vehicle in time, he could have been saved. "There are no ambulances in a college where nearly 2,500 students are studying. It is a gross negligence on the part of college authorities," alleged a student.

The students gheraoed the college principal for hours and demanded Rs 5 lakh as compensation for the victim's family, an ambulance for each of the four hostels and a dispensary within the campus.

"The students' unrest was on till evening, as the college authorities failed to assure them of their demands. A police team has been deployed at the campus to avoid any untoward incident," inspector in-charge of Bhadrak Rural police station S C Patra said.

College authorities, however, pleaded their helplessness and Principal Narayan Chandra Kundu said, "The students had been provided with an ambassador at that time. But unfortunately the student could not be saved."