West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has invited the protesting junior doctors for talks at her Kalighat residence at 5 pm on Monday. This comes two days after the attempt to hold talks failed last Saturday over the live-streaming demand of the doctors.
In an email inviting the doctors "for the fifth and the final time", the state government said there won't, however, be a videography or live telecast of this meeting as the matter is pending before the Supreme Court.
"Instead, the minutes of the meeting will be recorded and signed by both the parties," Chief secretary Manoj Pant said in the e-mail.
"This is the fifth and the final time we are reaching out to you for a meeting between the honourable CM and the delegates. In line with our discussion the day before (Saturday), we are once again inviting you for the meeting with the CM at her Kalighat residence for discussions with an open mind," he wrote.
The doctors' representatives who came to Kalighat for the meeting on Saturday have been requested to come on Monday as well. Only 30 representatives of doctors will be allowed.
The doctors responded to the mail, stating they would discuss it among themselves and then announce their decision on whether to attend the meeting.
Junior doctors of the state-run hospital have been on cease work in protest against the rape-murder of a doctor in the facility on August 9. There were hopes of a breakthrough when Mamata visited the protest site on Saturday to invite them for talks.
However, the proposed meeting fell through with the protesters demanding the meeting be live-telecasted, which the government refused to accept. Mamata stepped out to appeal to the doctors to join the talks and urged them "not to insult her," and promised them that a signed copy of the minutes of the meeting would be given.
The protesters claimed they were asked to leave after waiting in front of her residence for three hours.