A shed in front of the nurses’ hostel at SSKM Hospital turns into a gambling and liquor den after dark. Pictures by Talat Salahuddin

A shed in front of the SSKM nursing hostel turns a hooch and gambling den after dark, forcing students to stay cooped in the compound. Group D employees of the hospital, a stone’s throw from Nandan where the chief minister spends most of his evenings, allegedly run the racket.

Unable to stop criminals from assembling near the hostel every night, the principal of the nursing college has imposed restrictions on the movement of the boarders after 8pm.

The two gates of the six-storey hostel are shut at eight at night. Eighty girls study three courses, BSc (nursing), PG (nursing) and MSc (nursing) in College of Nursing at the hospital.

According to students, Group D workers of the hospital gather in the shed in the evening with bottles of illicit liquor and packs of cards. Their clients, most of them criminals, soon arrive and the liquor starts to flow. Bets are placed and drugs are also bought and sold.

Use of abusive language, indecent behaviour and snatching are commonplace in the area after dark.

Criminals who assemble in the shed often cut off parts of the fencing around the hostel and sell them to scrap dealers. One of them was caught scaling the wall of the hostel at night.

This has continued for years but the police have looked the other way because the union of Group D employees is a strong base of the CPM-supported State Co-ordination Committee, said sources.

From the principal to the surgeon superintendent to officers of the local police station, no one admits there is a problem. “We have not received any complaint,” they maintain.

The student nurses feel so insecure that they do not dare lodge a complaint.

When a Metro photographer tried to take a picture of the vice den at night, he was chased away by those who had assembled under the shed. Some even tried to snatch the camera.

“The SSKM compound has become the property of the Group D employees. In fact, they kindly allow the patients, doctors, nurses and ambulances on the premises,” said a ward master on condition of anonymity.

The shed outside the nurses’ hostel

According to him, outsiders living in the compound in shanties far outnumber the employees.

“Group D employees and sweepers are very powerful. They are the only voters in the area since their quarters are in the SSKM compound. The patients, doctors, nurses and other employees are not voters. This is the reason why the trade union leaders and the administration deal with Group D employees and sweepers with velvet gloves,” said a clerical staff of the hospital.

The principal of SSKM Nursing College, Mahasweta Bose, said: “I have not received any complaint from the students.”

However, she admitted that the area in front of the hostel turns a meeting spot of criminals after sunset. “But that is not a problem for the students since as a precautionary measure I have ordered the gates of the hostel be locked at 8pm,” the principal added.

“SSKM Hospital was once a premier medical institution. The Left Front government has turned it into a haven for goons and criminals. Many outsiders are allowed to stay on the premises for political gains,” said Firhad Hakim, the Trinamul MLA of the local Alipore constituency.

“In the 1980s, PG Hospital (as SSKM was known) used to be called Paltu Gopal Hospital. Paltu and Gopal were the two block sardars of the mazdoors in the Calcutta Municipal Corporation. Since they were CPM members, they were entrusted by the party to look after SSKM Hospital. They practically ran the hospital for over 12 years. Shanties started to mushroom inside the hospital during this period,” added the MLA.

Pradip Mitra, the director of SSKM Hospital, said: “I did not know the problem existed. We will solve the problem with the help of police.”

Talat Salahuddin