Mamata announces removal of CP, officials after meeting with docs; moral victory, say protesters

PTI, Sep 17, 2024, 8:23 AM IST

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday night announced the removal of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, the director of health services and the director of medical education, giving in to the demands of the agitating junior doctors.

The announcement by Banerjee came after an extensive meeting with the agitating doctors to end more than month-long impasse over the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the R G Kar hospital on August 9.

Noting that the talks with the protesters were fruitful, Banerjee said, nearly “99 per cent of their demands have been accepted” and they should resume their work.

The name of the new Kolkata police commissioner will be announced after 4 pm on Tuesday, she told reporters after the meeting held at her residence to resolve the crisis.

“Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal and Deputy Commissioner of the North Division Abhishek Gupta will be transferred. The doctors had claimed that Goyal had earlier told them that he wanted to step down because they had lost faith in him. We have accommodated his request and transferred him to a position he had asked for,” Banerjee said.

She said there would be more changes in the police department.

The chief minister urged the doctors to return to work as most of their demands have been accepted.

“No punitive action will be taken against the doctors… I would request them to rejoin work as common people are suffering,” she said.

Agitating junior doctors described the decision to remove the Kolkata Police Commissioner as their “moral victory”.

They, however, said that they will continue with their ‘cease work’ and demonstration till promises made by the Bengal chief minister are fulfilled.

“We will also wait for Tuesday’s hearing at the Supreme Court,” the medics said after the meeting.

The meeting that was held after four unsuccessful bids to initiate a dialogue to resolve the deadlock also came a day before the Supreme Court hearing on the matter.

Banerjee said that the director of health services and the director of medical education would be removed, but the demand to replace Health Secretary N S Nigam would not be accepted.

“We informed them (medics) that it is not possible to accept the demand regarding the removal of the health secretary, as it would create a sudden vacuum in the health department,” she said.

Banerjee said the government has accepted three of the protesters’ five demands.

“A demand regarding the investigation (into the rape-murder case) cannot be met as the matter is before the Supreme Court and the CBI is investigating. We have full faith in the judiciary.

“I want to assure them that no punitive action will be taken against the doctors and request them to rejoin work as common people are suffering,” she said.

Banerjee also announced formation of a Task Force led by the chief secretary to look into the other issues related to safety and security in hospitals and medical college premises.

The Task Force will also comprise the home secretary, DGP, Kolkata Police Commissioner and representatives from the junior doctors.

Additionally, Banerjee stated that an effective and responsive grievance redressal mechanism will be established in hospitals.

“Rs 100 crore has been sanctioned for hospital infrastructure improvement, such as CCTV and washroom facilities, which will be formalized in close consultations with the medical fraternity,” she added.

Earlier, the meeting at the chief minister’s residence to address the RG Kar impasse concluded after nearly two hours, though it took two-and-a-half hours more to finalise the minutes of the meeting.

Escorted by a pilot police vehicle, 42 medics arrived at Banerjee’s residence at 6.20 pm. The meeting, which was originally scheduled at 5 pm, began around 7 pm and lasted for two hours.

Previous attempts to resolve the issue got stuck due to the state government’s rejection of the doctors’ demand for live-streaming and video recordings of the meeting.

The agitating medics later agreed to a compromise and settled on recording the minutes of the meeting and receiving a signed copy.

The state government accepted this condition, with Chief Secretary Manoj Pant saying both parties would sign the minutes of the meeting and share copies for clarity.

The state government also allowed the two stenographers, accompanying the agitating doctors, inside the venue to record the minutes of the meeting.

The agitating doctors, however, have stuck to their demands.

“We also want the issue to be resolved but not at the cost of any form of compromise on our five demands. We are going to the meeting to discuss all the issues with an open mind,” an agitating doctor, who is present at the meeting, said before leaving for the talks.

The state government on Monday morning invited “for the fifth and the final time” the protesting doctors for talks to end the impasse, two days after the dialogue failed to take off over disagreement on live-streaming of the meeting.