RG Kar protests: Junior doctors stick to demands at talk in Kolkata

Kolkata: Junior doctors stuck to their basic demands at the meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. A delegation of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Forum (WBJDF), spearheading the movement against the ghastly rape and murder of a junior doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata sat for the talks. The two-hour long talks were aimed to end the ongoing impasse and finally started at the CM's south Kolkata residence around 7.10 p.m. on Monday.

As per reports, the doctors submitted a memorandum listing their demands to the Chief Minister. Ahead of the meeting, Banerjee made a public appeal urging the doctors to end their strike and engage in discussions, stating, “Every issue can be resolved through dialogue.”

After four unsuccessful bids to initiate a dialogue to resolve the more than a month-long deadlock, a delegation of 35 agitating junior doctors came for the meeting this evening.

It was made clear that there would be no live-streaming of the talks as the case was sub-judice, it was explained to the junior doctors. However, minutes of the meeting were kept for posterity.

The junior doctors have been protesting, demanding better security measures at state-run hospitals and the removal of senior officials following the brutal rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. “Our main demand is timely justice in the case. We want action against not only the rapist and the killers but also against those who tried to tamper with the evidence and misguided the investigation process and the whole syndicate of few doctors,” the doctors said.

Sources said that the meeting, which was slated for 5 p.m., had started smoothly after the two professional stenographers accompanying the 30-member delegation to record the minutes of the meeting on behalf of the protesting junior doctors were allowed entry to the meeting venue.

Besides the Chief Minister and the delegates, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and the state Home Secretary Nandini Chakraborty were also there at the meeting.

The bus carrying the junior doctors reached the Chief Minister’s residence at 6.15 p.m. - an hour and 15 minutes late from the scheduled meeting time.

However, the doctors had also made it clear that as regards their ongoing cease-work and protests, no decision will be conveyed at the meeting.

"We will come back after attending the meeting, discuss the outcome of the meeting with all concerned, and then announce our decision. There will be no compromise on our five-point agenda of demands," a protesting junior doctor said.

Earlier, before leaving for the Chief Minister’s residence after accepting the fresh invitation, the WBJDF told the Chief Secretary that the government should accept any one of their three conditions - either "videography of the meeting by a separate videographer by both the parties" or the "entire video file of the meeting to be handed over to WBJDF representatives immediately after the meeting", or "minutes with full transcript of the meeting be recorded and formulated by both the parties (WBJDF will bring their own minutes and transcript takers in the meeting) and duly signed by the attendees and handed over at the end of the meeting as stated by Honourable CM previously".

The WBJDF emphasised that these three alternative suggestions have become important considering the arrests of former R.G. Kar principal Sandip Ghosh and the former SHO of Tala Police station Abhijit Mondal by the CBI in the rape and murder case after the last scheduled meeting at the same venue on Saturday, which failed to fructify due to their videography demand. The delegation had even refused Chief Minister Banerjee's invitation for "a cup of tea" after the meeting failed to take off.. (IANS)

Also Read: RG Kar horror: Supreme Court takes suo moto cognizance; Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) gets lead (sentinelassam.com)

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