Six junior doctors started a fast unto death on Saturday evening but none of them from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the epicentre of the protests since a junior doctor there was raped and murdered on August 9.

As the clock struck 8.30pm, a section of the junior doctors announced their decision to begin the fast from their new protest venue at Esplanade.

On Friday, they had given a 24-hour ultimatum to the state government to meet their 10-point demands. The government did not respond.

Arnab Mukherjee, a postdoctoral trainee at SSKM Hospital who announced the decision, said the six trainee doctors who will begin the hunger strike will not resume duties. Some of the rest who will be at the protest site will work in rotation while the majority will be in hospitals doing their duties.

Earlier in the morning, Kolkata Police wrote to the junior doctors’ front denying them permission to set up the protest dais on the stretch of Chowringhee Road opposite Metro cinema.

The police cited the rush of shoppers, the ensuing Puja and traffic in their letter.

The junior doctors, however, stayed put. In the evening, they had a round of heated arguments with the police who tried to prevent them from taking bamboos and cots to the site. Later, work began to expand the dharna manch.

A senior officer at Lalbazar told The Telegraph: “We hope good sense will prevail and they will understand the people’s plight.”

All through Saturday, half the Chandni Chowk-bound flank of Chowringhee was blocked. At times, when traffic increased, cops created a channel on the opposite flank for the north-bound vehicles.

“We are beginning a fast unto death from this moment. Six junior doctors will begin this fast now. If anything happens to any of these doctors, the state government will remain responsible,” Mukherjee, one of the six to begin the fast, said. “We have ended the cease-work, barring the six who will start the hunger strike.”

The junior doctors said CCTV cameras will be installed at the site to maintain transparency about the fast.

Asked if anyone from RG Kar was among the six, Mukherjee said “no”.

“There is no one from RG Kar among these six. They are in their college trying to handle the outcome of a probe about those accused of threat culture,” he said.

None of the popular faces of the doctors’ protests from RG Kar was seen at the Esplanade site when Mukherjee addressed the news conference.

“We are fully supporting the fast. We will be present at the protest venue at Esplanade,” Aniket Mahato, a postgraduate trainee at RG Kar.

The other five to begin the fast are Anustup Mukherjee, Tanaya Panja and Snigdha Hazra from Medical College Kolkata, Sayantani Ghosh Hazra from KPC Medical College and Hospital and Pulastya Acharya from NRS Medical College and Hospital.

The junior doctors said the fast would continue till their demands were met.

The 10 demands are:

• Justice without any further delay in the form of a protracted judicial process
• Removal of the health secretary
• Immediate implementation of a centralised referral system in all hospitals and medical colleges
• A digital bed vacancy monitor
• Task forces in each college with elected representation of junior doctors
• Increased police protection and hiring of permanent male and female police personnel, not civic volunteers
• Immediate filling of all vacant positions for doctors, nurses and healthcare workers in hospitals
• Enquiry committees in every medical college to investigate and punish those involved in ‘threat syndicates’
• Elections to student councils and resident doctors associations in every medical college
• Enquiry into ‘corruption and lawlessness’ at the West Bengal Medical Council and the West Bengal Health Recruitment Board.