Monday, May 29 2006 12:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: After rejecting the Government proposal, medicos today (May 29, 2006) stepped up their anti-reservation stir with faculty members of three premier hospitals going on mass casual leave and the medical fraternity gearing up for a total shutdown on Wednesday.

The striking medicos got a boost as students of the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi began a relay hunger strike at their campuses to express solidarity with them.

Faculty members of Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), Safdarjung Hospital and University College of Medical Sciences went on leave en masse in support of the agitation while senior doctors of AIIMS have decided to observe a day-long hunger strike tomorrow.

The medical fraternity is also gearing up for a bandh on Wednesday.

"Every private hospital to corporate health institute and small clinic to medical college will remain closed on Wednesday in support of the fortnight-long agitation", Dr Vinod Patro, President of AIIMS Resident Doctors' Association, told sources.

Around 15 students each from IIT and JNU began a relay hunger strike in their respective campuses demanding review of the reservation policy and setting up of a judicial commissionfor the purpose, representatives of 'Youth for Equality' said.

"We are demanding the judicial review because we feel that reservation has not served its purpose for the last 50 years and it should be scrapped," said Sanjay Pandey, who is coordinating the hunger strike stir at both the institutes.