Kolkata: A day after protesting junior doctors refused to hold talks with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the Bengal Secretariat over the Kolkata rape and murder case, the latter reached the protest site on Saturday.
Amid slogans demanding justice, Banerjee—surrounded by the protesters—said she was there not as the CM of the state, but as their elder sister. She requested the doctors to return to work. The Bengal CM also assured the protesters that she had no connection with any of the individuals responsible for the killing of the 31-year-old PGT doctor last month.
#WATCH | RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder case: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee reaches Swasthya Bhawan in Kolkata to meet the protesting doctors. pic.twitter.com/AbtdOAisKh
— ANI (@ANI) September 14, 2024
Banerjee also stated that a panel would be formed to ensure safety of doctors, adding that she had been spending sleepless nights thinking of the plight of the agitating doctors.
“I have come forward by leading the student movement, I have also struggled a lot in my life, I understand your struggle. I am not worried about my position. It rained all night yesterday, you were sitting here protesting, I was worried all night…After listening to your demands, I will study them. I do not run the government alone, I will definitely find a solution by studying your demands with senior officials. Whoever is found guilty will definitely be punished,” she said.
Earlier, the CM had mentioned on social media that at least 29 people had lost their lives due to the cease-work agitation by junior doctors in Kolkata.
The junior doctors have been on cease-work agitation since August 9, when the body of the trainee doctor was recovered from the seminar hall of the state-run RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata. The agitating doctors have been demanding justice for the victim, besides resignation of top health officials and Kolkata Police Commissioner, Vineet Goyal, for alleged laxity in probe. The doctors had refused to meet Banerjee at the Secretariat as the government had not allowed their demand of live-streaming the meeting.
So far, only a civic volunteer, Sanjay Roy, had been arrested in the case amid allegations of multiple persons being involved in the crime.
