By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, November 6, 2015 : Ministers in the Naveen Patnaik government in Odisha seem to be at the receiving end following a spate of farmers suicide.

A day after eggs were pelted at Odisha agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy by drought-hit farmers in Nuapada district, students of the Utkal University on Friday lobbed eggs at school and mass education minister Devi Prasad Mishra to protest against what they called “apathetic attitude” of the state government towards improving the condition of the varsity.

Mishra was returning from a function at the University when a group of eight to ten students came in front of minister’s vehicle and allegedly pelted eggs in protest against the infrastructural deficiencies in the varsity campus.

The students were demanding wi-fi campus since long and they resorted to egg pelting as their demands have not been fulfilled despite presenting memorandum to the authorities on numerous occasions.

The incident occurred few meters away from the varsity gate while the minister was on his way out after attending an international seminar organised by Kalinga Lanka Foundation in the campus auditorium.

“The Odisha government has completely overlooked developmental issues of Utkal University. The ruling BJD work was going on in the campus so we pelted eggs in protest against it,” Tarini Prasad, a student of the university said.

“Neither the state government nor the Utkal University authorities have looked into the demands we had presented to them. We pelted eggs in protest against such callous attitude of the government as well as the university authorities,” Subrat Behera, another varsity student said.

However, a students’ union leader claimed that no such incident has taken place in the campus.

“Some people are trying to throw eggs at the minister. They have been taken away by the police. I have no idea about the number of people being picked up by the police,” Dr Ashok Kumar Das, Vice-Chancellor of Utkal University said.

The two agitating students – Tarin Prasad and Subrat Behera – were detained at the Sahid Nagar police station for interrogation, informed deputy commissioner of police Satyabrat Bhoi.