Tension gripped Malda Medical College & Hospital (MMCH) on Monday after an INTTUC leader, who is also the husband of a Trinamool councillor in the town, allegedly assaulted some contractual group D employees and demanded ₹5 lakh from the private agency employing them.
In the MMCH, there are 135 such group D employees, including 50 women.
The accused, Jayanta Bose, is the husband of Puja Das, the councillor of ward 13 of the Englishbazar Municipality.
Bose is also a district vice-president of INTTUC, the Trinamool workers’ front, and also works in MMCH as a contractual employee.
Sahin Biswas and Biswajit Singha, both group D staff, alleged that Bose, along with three to four associates, entered the MMCH premises in an inebriated condition on Monday night, forced open the workers’ quarters, and threatened them with dire consequences if they failed to convey his demand of ₹5 lakh to the officials of the agency through which they have been recruited.
“He held us by the scruff of our necks, used abusive language, and threatened to harm us,” said Biswas.
“We are all terrified and have informed the hospital authorities,” Singha said.
Many other staff members, including the women employees, echoed Singha, saying Monday's incident had left them frightened.
“We often work at night. After such an incident, we don’t feel safe anymore,” said Nandita Paul, a female contractual worker at MMCH.
When contacted, Bose denied the allegations. “All these charges are false and baseless. I didn’t assault anyone. I only asked the workers to perform their duties properly,” he said.
Biswajit Haldar, district president of INTTUC, defended Bose's action. The private agency, he alleged, has been retrenching contractual staff every six months, which is undemocratic. “Our leader was protesting against that,” said Haldar.
MMCH authorities said that the matter was under internal review, although no formal complaint had been lodged yet.
“We are looking into it,” said an official.