Varanasi: Police on Sunday put an end to the indefinite hunger strike by a group of protesters opposing University Grants Commission (UGC) policies at Shastri Ghat after relatives alerted authorities that their health conditions were deteriorating sharply.They were staging a protest for over a month and for the past five days Brajesh Mishra, Ballu Mishra and Sanatani Chandan Baba had been on hunger strike.ACP (Cantt) Pragya Tripathi said a health check-up of protesters was conducted on a daily basis, but when they became dehydrated and blood creatinine levels became abnormal, the chief medical officer gave a report advising immediate hospitalisation. Police removed the tent and stage set up for the protest.After the protesters were hospitalised, a police force was deployed at PDDU district hospital to avert a law-and-order problem.One of the protesters, Avinash Mishra, said they had been protesting for about a month and three of them went on hunger strike five days ago. On Sunday, a heavy police force reached the protest site around 3.30 am with ambulances and cleared the area. The fasting protesters were shifted to hospital for urgent medical examination and treatment.Angered over the removal of the stage for the protest, members of the Karni Sena and other general category groups threatened to intensify the agitation against UGC rules addressing discrimination against Dalits in educational institutions. Karni Sena district president Alok Singh was not allowed to leave home while a bid by other supporters to block the road was foiled by the police.
