Health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey had to face public outcry over the government’s alleged apathy towards the Vikramshila Mahavihara when he reached Antichak on Wednesday evening to inaugurate the sixth Vikramshila Mahotsav.

A group of people shouted slogans against the state government’s alleged failure to attach the ancient seat of learning with the Buddhist circuit and improve the infrastructure. National spokesperson of BJP, Bhagalpur MP Shahnawaz Hussain and other MLAs who accompanied Choubey to Antichak, 37km northeast of Bhagalpur, also encountered the public outcry.

The agitators did not even allow the BJP MLA from Pirpainty, Aman Kumar Paswan, to address the inaugural event. Although Choubey tried to pacify the crowd assuring them that necessary steps would be taken for the development of the ancient Vikramshila world university site, some speakers justified the pubic sentiment.

Apart from their demand to attach Vikramshila with the Buddhist circuit to promote tourism, the agitators sought development of infrastructure, including road connectivity to the excavated site of the ancient world varsity.