Akhilesh fulfils poll promise: Laptops for 8,000 students

According to SP’s Ghaziabad district president Rashid Malik,the CM distributed 8,074 laptops to students in Ghaziabad on Monday.

Meanwhile,a group of girl students from a private college protested on Varanasi-Mughalsarai GT Road,demanding that their names be included in the list of beneficiaries of the laptop scheme. However,government officials at the venue said that the chief minister’s scheme was meant only for students of colleges run or aided by the government.

Sakshi Choudhary from MMH PG College in Ghaziabad said she was encouraged by the laptops given to her and her batchmates. Students present at the venue told Newsline that apart from students of private colleges,students enrolled in universities in other states had been excluded from the scheme as they were “outsiders”.

Waseem Khan,an engineering student in Modi Nagar said,“I have never owned a laptop before and this would help me in my field of study.” Along with the HP laptops,the students were also given free laptop bags.

Students protested and blocked traffic for nearly an hour during which two girls students fainted and were later taken to a nearby hospital. When they refused to leave,police called the principal of the college to intervene,said police officers present at the spot.