The city police commissioner, Manoj Verma, said “police will take appropriate action”, when asked on Monday about the junior doctors’ agitation in a pocket of the city where assemblies are restricted.

Verma was attending a Kolkata Police programme at the police training school in Alipore when reporters asked him about the junior doctors’ fast unto death that began on Saturday night.

“The police will take appropriate action,” Verma said, refusing to speak further about the hunger strike.

Seven junior doctors are on a fast till death with 10 demands, including the removal of the state health secretary and students’ union elections at all medical colleges.

The protest is being staged near Hare Street police station’s Esplanade outpost, where junior doctors from several medical colleges and their seniors have assembled.

The protesters have blocked almost the entire north-bound flank of Chowringhee Road, forcing the police to divert traffic.

The pocket is part of the area where the police have banned gatherings of more than five persons under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita since September 26.

The police have so far refrained from initiating any action against the protesting doctors and have left it to “their good sense” to ensure the heart of the city is not choked during the festive season.

“We have sent a mail to the junior doctors requesting them to withdraw their agitation considering the impact on traffic during the festive season on JL Nehru Road (Chowringhee Road). They have not replied. We hope good sense will prevail,” an officer at Lalbazar said.