Students and junior doctors of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital (BMCH) on Wednesday afternoon began an indefinite agitation outside the principal’s office for the removal of Tapas Ghosh as dean of students’ welfare.
Protesters accused Ghosh of allowing close aides of arrested former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh to use the BMCH guest house for “recreation” and other alleged illegal activities.
The dean of students’ welfare is also the vice-principal of BMCH.
“Close aides of Sandip Ghosh like Avik De and Birupaksha Biswas, both doctors, used to conduct illegal activities with the help of the local administration. Most importantly the principal’s guest house was used by those influential people for recreation at night. As dean of the students’ welfare, Tapas Ghosh was responsible for allowing such activities,” said Gouranga Pramanik, a junior doctor at Burdwan Medical College.
“Why would one person enjoy two posts simultaneously? That is why we demand the resignation of Tapas Ghosh from the post of dean of students welfare,” he added.
A source said when the students went to Ghosh for an explanation, he “declined to take any responsibility”.
The junior doctors have also submitted a written complaint to the principal of the medical college Mousumi Bandopadhyay demanding Ghosh’s removal from the post of dean.
Neither the dean nor the principal took calls from this newspaper.
Pramanik said after the RG Kar incident De had visited BMCH and intimidated students and junior doctors, threatening them with action if they joined the protests.
The junior doctor alleged: “Interestingly, we have found that CCTV footage of the duration that De was on campus to threaten us is missing. The reason is understandable. It should be probed who allowed this to happen.”
A senior doctor in BMCH said that the demand for Tapas Ghosh’s resignation became louder after RG Kar’s former principal Sandip Ghosh was disgraced over corruption charges.
“A lobby led by Sandip Ghosh used to run the administration in most of the medical colleges and hospitals in Bengal. Now, Sandip Ghosh has been removed and arrested. Hence, students and junior doctors in other medical colleges have started protests to demand the removal of others close to the lobby,” said a senior doctor, who added that Bandopadhyay had in principle agreed to remove Tapas Ghosh as dean but no official communication in this regard was issued.
Last week, in Siliguri, Sandeep Sengupta, the dean of student affairs of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH), and Sudipta Shil, the assistant dean, resigned from their posts amid intensive student and junior doctors protests.
The students and junior doctors of BMCH are also protesting against the alleged highhandedness of “aides to Sandip Ghosh” running a racket in the Burdwan institution.
Protesters claimed that apart from threatening students, those running the racket were involved in illegal activities such as influencing examination results and administrative decisions.
Last week, protesters held demonstrations demanding action against Trinamool Chhatra Parishad leader De, who was allegedly seen at the scene of crime following the rape and murder of the doctor at RG Kar on August 9.
Following the wave of protests and allegations against De and Biswas, the state health department suspended the duo. Biswas is also known for his closeness to Trinamool.
