Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stated on Monday that Kolkata’s Commissioner of Police, Vineet Kumar Goyal, had approached her multiple times to resign in the aftermath of the R.G Kar Medical College & Hospital rape and murder incident, but she had refused to accept his resignation.
“The Commissioner came to me a number of times to resign. He even came to me for the purpose just a week back. But the Durga Puja festival is ahead. The person who will be in charge should be aware of the prevailing situation relating to law & order. What is the harm in having patience for some more days? The protesters are claiming replacement of all. I may replace five but may not replace another five,” the Chief Minister told media persons after an administrative meeting with the top police officials and bureaucrats in the state amid the continuing protests over the rape and murder issue.
The city police chief had come under scathing criticism from protesting representatives from the state’s medical fraternity in particular and civil society in general, with demands for his resignation based on moral responsibility for alleged lapses in the handling of the initial investigation of the rape and murder case by Kolkata police before it was handed over to the CBI by the Calcutta High court.
The Chief Minister also dismissed the Union Home Ministry’s complaint that the state government had failed to provide infrastructure support to Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel stationed at R.G Kar Medical College and Hospital in accordance with Supreme Court orders.
“I arranged a primary school run by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and a 30-bed hospital for them. Next, they demanded community halls. If I fulfil that demand, what will happen to those people for whom the community halls have been constructed?” she questioned.
She also said that the Union government should take some responsibility for the matter instead of pushing the entire burden on the state government. “The Union government is exactly doing that and now blaming us. The Union government and some Left Parties are involved in this conspiracy,” Banerjee alleged.
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–IANS
