Calcutta Medical College students withdraw hunger strike after 14 days with authority accepting demand
Kolkata, July 23 (IBNS): Protesting students of Calcutta Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), who were on an indefinite fast for more than 320 hours, called off their hunger strike on Monday afternoon after the college authority announced to allot them rooms in a newly built multi-storey hostel.
Following a college council meeting in the morning, acting principal of West Bengal's one of the premiere medical education institutions, Ashok Bhadra, declared that two floors of the new 11-storey hostel, which was built specially for first year students, will be given temporarily to the second, third and fourth year students.
"We have decided to temporarily accommodate the students of MBBS second, third and fourth years, who were agitating for rooms, in two floors of the 11-storey hostel while two floors will be allotted each to the MBBS first year and post graduation students in the building," Ashok Bhadra said.
"After the completion of our new under-construction seven-storey hostel building, which will have a capacity to accommodate 500 students, we will shift the senior students to the hostel and maintaining Medical Council of India (MCU)'s guideline, the 11-storey hostel will be provided only to the first year MBBS students," Bhadra added.
The principal said that rooms in the new hostel will be allotted to the senior students through an open and transparent counselling process.
After receiving a written copy of college council's decision, agitating students withdrew their fast after 14 long days.
"As our primary demand is fulfilled, we our calling off our indefinite hunger strike after more than 320 hours," a protesting student told IBNS.
"We were fighting to get accommodation in newly built 11-storey hostel as the condition of our old hostel is very poor and our rooms in the hostel are inhabitable," the student added.
Demanding allotment of rooms in newly built multi-storey hostel which was specially made for first year MBBS students, six students of the medical institute went on an indefinite hunger strike since July 10 while 15 more medical students joined the ongoing fast on Wednesday (July 18) night and five of these students fell sick during the week-long fast.
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
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