Jr docs end Swasthya Bhavan sit-in with march to CBI HQ
Times of India | 21 September 2024
Kolkata: To mark the end to their 43-day cease-work, several hundred junior doctors from across campuses on Friday marched from Swasthya Bhavan to CBI headquarters at CGO Complex in Salt Lake — the same route they had taken before starting the 10-day sit-in demonstration outside the state health department headquarters on Sept 10.
“Our movement for justice will continue even as we join emergency duty from Saturday.We will sit in the respective dharna sites at our medical colleges on roster. We will be keeping a close watch on the development of the investigation and implementation of the assurances given to us by the state,” said Aniket Mahata, a protesting doctor.
The walk by 700-odd doctors started around 4 pm with banners and posters crying for “justice for Abhaya”. Along the 4-km walk, many bystanders and locals joined them as the doctors stopped at multiple points and spoke to their companions stressing on how this was not the end of the protest and that they would continue their fight to seek justice through several other modes. The doctors finally reached CGO Complex around 6.40 pm.
“We lifted the sit-in as some of our demands have been met by the state. We will now head back to our medical college campuses where we will continue our protest at dharna camps. If the state doesn’t keep the rest of the promises and fails to take proper steps to remove threat culture from campuses, we will go for a bigger movement and may start our cease-work again,” said Kinjal Nanda, a protesting doctor.
Once the doctors reached CGO Complex, some of them started shouting slogans asking the CBI to arrest the rest of the culprits while the majority of them went to Shyambazar to join another rally by a citizens’ forum from Hiland Park that was set to culminate at Shyambazar.
Another junior doctor said: “We want to reiterate that we don’t want to engage in politics. If we wanted, we wouldn’t have sat with our demands for such a long time.”
From Friday morning, junior doctors as well as decorators had begun cleaning the area outside Swasthya Bhavan. Once all doctors left, sweepers from conservancy department of NDITA cleaned the streets. Bidhannagar cops said the guardrails have been removed and usual traffic movement would resume from Saturday.