Cuttack: The Postgraduate Doctors' Union at the SCB Medical College Hospital went on an indefinite strike on Monday demanding "impartial inquiry" into alleged "mental and physical harassment" of their colleagues of the urology department.

Union general secretary Phanindra Kumar Swain said: "The general body of our union decided to cease work as there was no tangible response to our demand."

"After receiving a complaint from the postgraduate doctors of the urology department, on February 15 we had demanded an impartial inquiry through a representation to the dean and principal of the SCB Medical College," Swain said.

"The postgraduate doctors of the urology department had alleged that they were being constantly mentally harassed and abused by their head of the department Duteswar Hota," Swain said.

The dean and principal Sidhartha Das was not available for comments. But sources in his office said a committee had been constituted on February 17 and inquiry could not begin as the next day was a Sunday.

The head of the urology department was also not available for his comments. But the Odisha Medical Teachers' Association said it had received a communication from Hota in which he had demanded a "proper inquiry" into the allegations.

The association secretary Bibhuti Bhusan Nayak told The Telegraph on Monday that "it has become a regular practice of postgraduate medicos to accuse their examiner-professor and intimidate them and the administration before the examinations and resort to unfair means to clear the test".

"Hence, we demand a proper inquiry into the present allegation and previous incidents for appropriate action," Nayak said.