The students of the Birgunj-based National Medical College (NMC) staged protests on Saturday, after some senior students manhandled the agitating students protesting against the exorbitantly high fees charged by the college administration.

The situation at NMC was tense on Friday evening, after the senior students – close to the college administration – manhandled the agitaging protesters – first year MBBS students. The students staged protest in front of NMC’s entrance, and they also submitted a memorandum to the chief district officer (CDO) Narayan Prasad Bhattarai.

“We have been demanding that the college administration return the additional fees it charged the students. But, the administration has threatened the students. Also, the senior students, who are close to the college administration, have manhandled the junior students protesting against the additional fees charged by NMC,” said an MBBS first year student.

The students claim that the college has been charging additional fees to the students apart from the fee set by Tribhuvan University.

On Friday evening, the first year MBBS students had staged protests against the exobirtant fees charged by the college administration. While the students were returning after the protest, the senior students of the college obstructed them from entering the hostel. Then, the dispute between the two groups started, and the protesting students were manhandled by the senior students.

The protesting students claim that the college administration planned the incident. The protesting students also say that girl students were harassed by the seniors. “The students were harassed even after the police arrived at the incident site,” a student said.

“After the first year students started the protests, the annual examination has become uncertain. After the senior students asked about the protest, the dispute started between the two groups,” said Basruddin Ansari, managing director of NMC, adding that the administration is ready to follow the directions of the Ministry of Education.

“The students are not ready for discussions and meeting,”he said, adding that the students are provoked. He also claimed that the media has not presented the real story of NMC.

As per the existing laws, medical colleges outside the Kathmandu Valley can charge only Rs 4.2 million per student annually, but NMC has been charging the students an additional Rs 1.2 million under various headings.

The medical students say that NMC has forced the MBBS students to pay an additional Rs 1.2 million under different headings such as library charge, sports fee, internet, CDP charge, among other things.

A few weeks ago, the government had given a 15-day ultimatum to the medical colleges to return the additional fees they have charged the students.

Meanwhile, on November 17, the Department of Money Laundering Investigation also raided the college. A three-member team of the department raided the college to investigate the income of the medical college.