Demanding reform of the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE), hundreds of members of the Odisha Technical Colleges Association (OTCA), BPUT Students Union (BSU) and Odisha Private Engineering College Employees Association (OPECEA) staged a demonstration near the Raj Bhavan here on Wednesday.
They burnt effigies of OJEE Chairman and Secretary and staged a dharna near the Governor’s House alleging major irregularities in the OJEE.The association members said the campaign called ‘Call for New OJEE-Campaign against OJEE Scam’ is being carried across the State at various strategic points to draw attention of authorities to the various issues concerning the OJEE.
According to OTCA president Biswajit Mohanty, 56 colleges were closed and more than 70 buses did not run on Wednesday in order to support the protest in places like Rourkela, Bargarh, Sambalpur, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.Mohanty said rampant corruption and irregularities in the OJEE has resulted in the growing distrust of the students over the institution. There has been gross violation of the High Court order of the Orissa Professional Educational Institutions (OPEI) Act 2007 resulting in the failure of the admission process which affects the future of thousands of students.
BSU president Samapta Kumar Mohanty said the OJEE process should be conducted in a fair and transparent manner. He demanded financial audit of the OJEE during last five years and removal of the officials involved in it.later a six-member delegation of OTCA, BSU and OPECEA met Governor SC Jamir at his residence here and discussed on the 7-point charter of demands including total boycott of the OJEE, constitution of reform committee, appointment of new team for OJEE and special financial audit for the OJEE.