‘How much time does it take to issue council-poll directive?’

Kolkata: On Friday, after the march from SSKM to Esplanade’s Dorina crossing, WBJDF members had announced they would intensify their stir if their 10-point demands were not met by 8.30 pm on Saturday. Debasish Halder, a senior resident of Medical College Hospital had said they would risk their lives to intensify the movement.
“How much time does it take to issue directives for holding student council elections or setting up resident doctors’ association? We are not demanding that the election be held immediately but that only a directive be issued.But the govt failed to respond,” said Halder.
The six PGTs who began the indefinite strike were Snigdha Hajra, Taniya Panja and Anustup Mukherjee of Medical College Hospital, Arnab Mukhopadhyay of SSKM, Pulasthya Acharya of NRS and Sayanati Ghosh Hajra of KPC.
The WBJDF also installed CCTV cameras at the protest site saying they took the initiative on their own to maintain transparency.
“We are forced to take this drastic step as the govt has to take responsibility if anything happens to the junior doctors who are going on fast,” said Rumelika Kumar.
The doctors, however, were yet to get official permission to set up a dharna mancha at Esplanade. They claimed the hired decorators were threatened and turned away by cops. Late on Friday, many junior doctors were seen setting up the stage on their own.
Kolkata Police on Saturday morning sent WBJDF a mail denying permission to continue with their agitation at Esplanade citing the Durga Puja festival and traffic snarls that could happen.