BENGALURU: Members of the All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) staged a protest at the Freedom Park here on Wednesday demanding that Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resign over the alleged irregularities in NEET-UG.

They also demanded that the National Testing Agency (NTA) be dissolved and stringent action taken against those responsible for the alleged irregularities. Addressing the members, AIDSO state secretary Ajay Kamath alleged that NTA has become a “puppet in the hands of coaching mafias”.

Kamath said AIDSO had opposed introduction of NEET from the beginning despite claims that it will eliminate corruption in admissions. He pointed out that the coaching industry currently has an annual turnover of around Rs 60,000 crore and it is expected to touch `1 lakh crore by 2030.