KOLKATA: Agitating students of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital withdrew their 14-day-long hunger strike on Monday afternoon after the college authorities agreed in written to concede their demands for accommodation in a newly-constructed hostel.
The students were on a hunger strike for more than 320 hours demanding that second, third and fourth year students be accommodated in a newly-built 11-storeyed hostel. After a college council meeting on Monday morning, the college authorities decided to accommodate the senior students in two floors of the hostel on a temporary basis till another under-construction hostel is completed.
The 11-storeyed hostel was built exclusively for first-year students. "The senior students will be accommodated in the new hostel for the time being till the construction of another 7-storeyed hostel with capacity of 500 students is completed after which they will be shifted to the 7-storeyed hostel and the 11-storeyed hostel will exclusively be for the first year students as per Medical Council of India (MCI)," acting principal Ashok Bhadra said.
Bhadra added that the allotment of the rooms to the senior students would be done through a transparent counseling process. A written copy of the decision was given to the agitating students after which they withdrew the hunger strike. Six senior students went on hunger strike on July 10 and were joined by 15 more students on July 18. Some five students had fallen sick during the agitation.