The North Bengal Medical College & Hospital (NBMCH) Contractual Workers’ Welfare Forum demonstrated on the medical college premises on Saturday for an hour.

Since Friday, forum members — contractual workers engaged at the NBMCH through private agencies — launched a seven-day symbolic protest over their demands.

“There are around 450 contractual workers at the NBMCH. We want a revision of our salaries, monthly pay slips, proper identity cards and proper assignment of duty in a rotational manner. Also, we want paid off-days on Sundays,” said Bhadru Singha, president of the forum.

According to him, some contractual employees have been working for around 22 years at the NBMCH.

Pratima Chakraborty, a member of the forum, said that despite working at the facility for years, they did not even have identity cards.

Sanjay Mallick, the NBMCH medical superintendent cum-vice-principal, said they were looking into the issues.

“We will talk to the agencies concerned (who have engaged the contractual staff)," he said.

"As far as assigning duties on a rotational basis is concerned, there are areas, for example, the labour ward, where only those who are trained for the specific jobs can be posted. Even then, we will see to it,” the NBMCH medical superintendent said.