RG Kar protests: Mamata govt sends fresh invite for talks to protesting doctors

Kolkata, Sep 12 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant sent a fresh communique to the protesting junior doctors giving a fresh deadline to send a delegation to the state secretariat Nabanna by 5 p.m. on Thursday.

However, in the fresh communique the Chief Secretary has overruled two important conditions of the junior doctors to attend the meeting, the first relating to a 30-member delegation and the second was the demand for a live telecast of the proposed meeting.

“The meeting shall be attended by a delegate team of only 15 persons to ensure a smooth discussion. The meeting shall not be live telecasted. However, the same can be recorded to maintain transparency,” read the letter from the Chief Secretary, a copy of which is available with IANS.

In the latter, the Chief Secretary has made it clear that as demanded by the protesting junior doctors the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee “will be happy” to meet them.

The communique was forwarded from the office of the Chief Secretary sharp at 2.05 p.m. on Thursday. The protesting junior doctors, under the banner of West Bengal Junior Doctor’s Forum (WBJDF), are on the third day of their sit-in demonstration in front of the state health department headquarters at Salt Lake which started Tuesday afternoon. They have received the communique and were discussing the next course of action in the matter.

Meanwhile, the Joint Platform of Doctors (JPD), an association of senior doctors in West Bengal, has expressed full solidarity with the stand taken by the junior doctors and has even threatened to join the cease-work protest if the state government initiates any action or proceedings against their junior counterparts.

A team of representatives from JPD reached the spot of a sit-in protest by WBJDF at Salt Lake in the afternoon and made a clear announcement on this count. The senior doctors also backed the demand of the junior doctors for a live telecast of the meeting for the sake of transparency.

On Wednesday afternoon, the protesting junior doctors rejected the earlier communique from the Chief Secretary for a discussion and had set four conditions on this count.

The protesters' conditions for discussion were -- a delegation of 30 representatives, a meeting in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a live telecast of the meeting for transparency among all parties and a meeting based on the five-point agenda outlined since the beginning.

One of the major demands in the five-point agenda already outlined includes the suspension of the State Health Secretary, State Director of Health Services and Director of Medical Education.

Earlier on Monday, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court had set a deadline of 5 p.m. on Tuesday for the protesting junior doctors to resume duty. After that, the Chief Minister also issued the same appeal.

However, despite that, the protesting doctors are carrying out their determined agitation seeking justice for the rape and murder victim.