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Stipends still unpaid as 64 MBBS interns remain suspended by Telangana private medical college

Stipends still unpaid as 64 MBBS interns remain suspended by Telangana private medical college

The Hindu06-07-2025
The Chalmeda Anand Rao Institute of Medical Sciences (CAIMS), a private medical college in Telangana's Karimnagar, is facing criticism from students and medical associations after suspending 64 MBBS interns who were protesting over unpaid stipends. The interns, who have been demanding rightful payments for over two months, were suspended for a week starting July 3, allegedly for blocking vehicles during a protest on campus.
While the college claims the action was based on a disciplinary committee's findings, the students allege it is a retaliatory move aimed at silencing dissent. The suspension order, issued on July 3, stated 'The following interns of the institute are suspended from their duties for a period of one week with effect from July 3 to July 10. They have to resume duties on July 11.' However, the students claim the administration has continued to withhold stipends even after the suspension and is now threatening them with stricter duty schedules once they return.
'If protesting is wrong, why doesn't the college first comply with the Government Order and transfer our stipends?' asked another intern. Attempts by The Hindu to reach S.A. Asaim, principal of CAIMS, for comment went unanswered.
As per a 2023 Government Order, MBBS interns in Telangana, whether in government or private medical colleges are entitled to a monthly stipend of ₹25,906. A revised order issued on June 28, 2025, further increased the stipend to ₹29,792. Yet, students at CAIMS allege they are being paid only ₹2,000 per month, in violation of these mandates.
The issue has now drawn national attention. The Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) has written to the Chairman of the National Medical Commission (NMC), urging immediate intervention. 'There are 23 private medical colleges in Telangana where interns are deployed in affiliated hospitals. Despite repeated directives, most of these colleges continue to underpay interns. Some are even collecting ₹5,000 per year as a so-called 'stipend fee' and then paying only ₹2,000 monthly,' FAIMA stated.
The association has demanded an inquiry into the events at CAIMS on July 1 and called for disciplinary action against those responsible for suspending the interns. It also urged the NMC to ensure that no intern is denied a completion certificate or subjected to academic harassment for participating in peaceful protests.
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What is the Dharmasthala mass-burial case and the horror stories of skeletons
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"Many of the female bodies were without clothing or underwear. Some bore clear signs of sexual assault and violence: wounds or strangulation that indicated violence... More than 100 women, including students, were raped, murdered and buried...," wrote a former sanitation worker from Karnataka's Dharmasthala in a complaint dated June 3, accompanied by photo evidence of skeletal remains.A week later, the worker, who had requested anonymity, appeared in a court under heavy police protection, his body wrapped from head to toe with only a transparent strip over the eyes to help him navigate. He had come to testify about the allegations he made in his letter, claiming he was forced to dispose of over a hundred murder victims, many of them women who, he alleged, were sexually assaulted, between 1998 and complaint (with pictographic evidence) and testimony has blown the lid off what victim families and activists have long tried to expose: a series of chilling crimes buried in silence. The silence of decades is because the Lord Manjunatha shrine, which is at the heart of Dharmasthala town, is managed by an influential family. The former sanitation worker claimed that some of the perpetrators were linked to the temple is an important pilgrimage centre in Karnataka, drawing believers even from outside the whistle-blower sanitation worker was on the payroll of the shrine the dark truth surfaced earlier in the 2012 Sowjanya rape-murder case, the latest revelations by the sanitation worker have reignited urgent demands for a thorough investigation. Calls for a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the Dharmasthala mass burials have now intensified, with two senior advocates formally joining the appeal for a fair, independent latest call for justice coincides with a renewed push from the family of Ananya Bhat, a first-year MBBS student who went missing in 2003 during a college trip to 60-year-old mother, Sujatha, a former stenographer with the CBI, lodged a fresh complaint at the Dharmasthala Police Station on July that her daughter may be among the unidentified victims mentioned in the sanitation worker's testimony, Sujatha's plea adds urgency to growing demands for an SIT probe into the alleged Dharmasthala mass IN SCHOOL UNIFORM, STRIPPED OF DIGNITY: WHISTLEBLOWER'S CHILLING ACCOUNTThe former sanitation worker, from the Dalit community, who worked for the Dharmasthala temple administration from 1995 to 2014, filed his explosive complaint on July 3 with the Dharmasthala the letter, he alleged that over nearly two decades, he was coerced into burying or burning the bodies of numerous victims, many of them women and minors, who bore signs of sexual assault and brutal to his complaint, he was regularly threatened with death if he refused to comply, with supervisors warning, "We will cut you into pieces, your body will be buried like the rest".Some of the burials, the whistleblower claimed, were carried out on the banks of the holy Netravathi River, sites chosen, he alleged, to ensure the bodies would remain undetected and decompose quickly in the soft, damp one haunting detail, the whistleblower said he was forced to bury a schoolgirl, aged between 12 and 15, in 2010 near a petrol bunk in Kalleri. The girl's body, then clad in her school uniform with the skirt and innerwear missing, showed marks of sexual assault and strangulation, reported The New Indian Express, earlier in incident involved a 20-year-old woman whose face was burned with acid, her body wrapped in newspaper, and instructions given for it to be burnt using sanitation worker's complaint, backed by photographs of skeletal remains he claims he was forced to exhume secretly, and submitted to the police, paints a disturbing picture of a long-running sanitation worker fled Dharmasthala overnight in December 2014 after a minor girl in his own family was allegedly sexually assaulted by someone linked to his supervisors. After spending years in hiding in neighbouring states, he returned, risking his life, driven by a deep sense of guilt and a renewed determination to seek complainant said after he dug up the skeletal remains, he submitted the photos to the police along with his Aadhaar card, and an old employee ID to establish the bodies that are being exhumed are given a proper funeral, the souls of those who have suffered will find peace and my sense of guilt will also be reduced... 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The initial Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe her case was widely criticised for its handling, with allegations of mishandled evidence and failure to pursue influential case's outcome left the region unsettled, with many believing justice was denied due to interference by powerful 2012 case highlighted a pattern of alleged police inaction, as families reported being dismissed or intimidated when attempting to file instance, Sujatha, the woman whose daughter Ananya disappeared, claimed the police had initially declined to register her complaint. 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They demanded the appointment of an ADGP-level officer to head the SIT, the inclusion of a dedicated FSL team, video recording of the investigation, thorough crime scene analysis, and immediate arrest and custodial interrogation of all involved, regardless of their the gravity of the alleged crimes, the advocates, in the memorandum to Siddaramaiah, stated that the "distressing information" pointed to the involvement of "highly influential" and "powerful personalities" with significant political clout, reported news agency sanitation worker's testimony has reignited a firestorm of demands for justice, with the skeletons he unearthed, both literal and figurative, laying bare a potential web of systemic violence and cover-up in Dharmasthala. 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Dharmasthala horror: Worker alleges rape, murder cover-up with 100s of bodies
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