Victoria Hospital protesters detained; labour dept to conduct inquiry

Bengaluru: Police detained at least 50 protestors who had been protesting their arbitrary removal from services at Victoria Hospital on Friday.

They were released from the VV Puram police station around 5.30 pm.

A sit-in protest within the hospital premises began on Wednesday when 56 ward attenders were asked not to report to work anymore.

The workers, who are members of the Karnataka General Labour Union (AICCTU), demanded that they be reinstated immediately and paid their salaries pending in over two months.

Following a meeting with all stakeholders, the Deputy Labour Commissioner H L Guru Prasad on Thursday instructed Victoria Hospital to take the workers back to work but the hospital management refused to do so, terming it an issue between two agencies.

On Friday, the third day of protests, several workers and five members of the AICCTU were detained by the VV Puram police who had reportedly warned them of action even on Thursday.

DCP South Lokesh Jagalasar said, "The police tried to convince them not to protest in the hospital premises over the past two days but it continued on Friday as well. In view of the high court's directions, they were taken into preventive detention."

In 2022, the Karnataka High Court ordered all protests were to be restricted to an open portion of the Freedom Park in Bengaluru, effectively allowing the police to take action against whoever violates the order.

Maitreyi Krishnan of the AICCTU told DH that the protestors will distribute pamphlets about the issue to other hospitals within the Bangalore Medical College compound to raise awareness about the issue and will continue to protest from Monday if the situation is not cleared favourably.

"This is the older agency's lookout; it is responsible to ensure that these workers are employed elsewhere after their contract ends. We have to take action against them," Mohammad Mohsin, principal secretary, Medical Education and Labour departments, told DH.

He added that the department will also conduct an inquiry into how the hospital continued to employ these 56 employees without sanctioned posts for them.