Family members and friends of Arup Banerjee, who died in a lift fiasco at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Friday, on Sunday stated that the arrest of a few people was not enough and that they wanted a change in the system under which the government hospital is being run.
“We want justice for what has happened to my brother. I cannot bring him back, but the culprits must be punished. The careless people should be held accountable so that such incidents do not happen again. We want the system at government hospitals to improve,” said Joy Banerjee, Arup’s cousin.
“The hospital administration should have put up a sign stating that the lift was out of order. There should have been a lift operator to guide people in case of an emergency,” he said.
Banerjee stays in a flat opposite to that of Arup’s at Jawpur Road in Dum Dum.
“My brother panicked and stepped out, and that is when he got trapped. The situation could have been avoided if someone had been there to guide them,” he said.
Another relative said that ideally, there should have been someone to check if the rules are being followed.
“Someone in the administration must have been there to see if the lift rules are being followed or not. That could have rectified the situation before the damage was done,” he said.
Arup, 41, lived in a joint family with relatives sharing different apartments in the same building. His family lives on the first floor of the five-storey building.
Joy, who also lives on the same floor, further alleged that when the family members sought help from Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, they were told it was not their responsibility.
“It is very unfortunate that no one came forward to help. If CISF personnel had assisted someone trapped in such a situation, I don’t think any action would have been taken against them. They are deployed to protect us,” he added.
“We want such practices of avoiding responsibility to stop,” he said.
The family has also demanded that Arup’s wife, Sonali, be given a government job so that the family can survive, as Arup was the sole breadwinner.
Several politicians visited Arup’s house since Friday, but there was no word of apology from the hospital or the administration, a family member said.
“On Friday evening, one minister visited our house. The local MLA visited the hospital. Our local councillor has been very supportive. We have appealed for his wife’s job, but they said it might take some time due to the elections,” Joy said.
He added that the family does not want the incident to be “politicised.”
“We do not want my brother’s death to become a political issue. We have seen in the past how such tragedies turn into political matters and even crowdfunding campaigns. We will not allow any political party to enter our house — we will speak to them outside if needed,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that after such an incident, no one from the hospital or the PWD came to visit us. It was their fault. There should be proper monitoring to ensure that PWD contractual workers are doing their job properly,” he added.
Many in the neighbourhood remembered Banerjee as ‘Buchu Da’, who was also a BLA-2 of the Trinamool Congress and helped many people fill out SIR forms.
“He never helped based on political affiliation—he helped everyone out of humanity. We all want justice for our Buchu Da,” said Subham Dutta, a neighbour and Arup’s childhood friend.