Bengal Chief Minster Mamata Banerjee, after meeting with the protesting junior doctors, has announced that she had agreed to three of the five demands of the protesting doctors — the removal of two top officials of the health department and the Chief of Kolkata police.  Along with it, the police chief of the city’s north zone — where RG Kar Medical College, the hospital where the rape-murder of a young doctor took place, is located — will also be removed.  Though the impasse is solved, the protest and the ceasework is expected to continue till the formal orders are issued in the morning.

“I think the meeting was positive. Am sure they think too,” she said. “Or why else we will sign the minutes of the meeting and they would sign it too?” she added.

The junior doctors declared that the state’s acceptance of their demands was a “big victory” of their 38-day protest. But even so their other aim — the destruction of the nexus of corruption at the hospital — remains. As for lifting the protest and the casework, that can only be done when the government delivers, they said.  “We have only received their verbal assurance,” said a representative of the Junior Doctors’ Forum.

Ms Banerjee said they have accepted 99 per cent of the doctors’ demands, “because they are our younger brothers”.

“I know they say they will go and discuss and then will decide on lifting the ceasework. But I have requested them to do so, citing the condition of patients, especially in view of the floods in some of the districts,” the Chief Minister said.

About the removal of the two health officials — the Director of Medical Education and the Director of the Health Services — Ms Banerjee said they would be given transfers to proper posts.

“We are not dishonouring them. They have not been in the post for long and have done nothing wrong. But since the students said they do not have trust in them, we have accepted,” Ms Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister’s announcement took place close to midnight, after a two-hour meeting with the protesting doctors and another 2.5 hours to type out the minutes of the meeting.

The announcement is seen as a capitulation of sorts. The Chief Minister had earlier said that city police chief Vineet Goyal would be retained for at least the Durga puja. He had asked to resign several times, but she wanted him to stay back, she had said.

The demand for Mr Goyal’s removal came in view of allegations about the police role in evidence tampering after the rape-murder of August 9. This was commented on multiple times by the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court.

Last week, the Central Bureau of Investigation or the CBI, which is investigating the case, has arrested the hospital’s former Principal Sandip Ghosh and a senior officer of the local police.

The protesting junior doctors had come to the table after two failed attempts at talks with the Chief Minister. Escorted by a pilot police vehicle, around 30 doctors had arrived at Ms Banerjee’s home at 6.20 pm. The meeting, which was expected to begin  at 5 pm, finally started around 7 pm and ended around 9 pm, after which the process to finalise the minutes started.

The doctors had taken their own stenographers to record the minutes. The document was signed by 40 doctors.

The impasse over the doctors’ demand for justice for the rape-murder of the 31-year-old medic has been on for more than a month. The Supreme Court has already ordered that the doctors put an end to the ceasework and get back to patient care, which is suffering.

The order had ended the spread of the ceasework, as doctors across India had stood up to show solidarity with the protesters. But Bengal doctors had refused, doubling down with the protests as the common people kept up their support.

A water storage facility breach at miner Vedanta Aluminium’s unit in Odisha has impacted agricultural land, the company said on Monday.

The incident, which happened at Vedanta’s Lanjigarh alumina refinery in Odisha on Sunday, has alarmed environment experts who pointed out it was a serious matter as the toxic byproduct ‘red mud’ was involved.

The pumped water level, or PWL, has causticity in water, meaning it can corrode organic tissue by damaging skin, eyes and mucus membranes.

The water overflowed due to heavy rain, Vedanta Aluminium said.

Visuals of the industrial incident show process water lake downstream of a pond that appeared to have been formed by ‘red mud’. A large volume of muddy red water was also seen flowing into open areas. The water covered the ground where some trees stood, and ran over other forms of vegetation.

‘Red mud’ is the waste generated in production of alumina from bauxite. It is also known as ‘bauxite residue’.

A major environmental issue in handling or disposal of ‘red mud’ is the alkaline nature of waste that may pose risk of contamination due to seepage or overflow, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) guidelines for handling and management of red mud generated from alumina plants.

Historically, ‘red mud’ has been handled in slurry form and stored in ponds that have caused adverse impacts on the environment globally, including in India, the CPCB says in the guidelines.

There were no injuries or loss of livestock due to the flooding caused by the breach, a Vedanta spokesperson said in a statement.

“There is no disruption in our current operations and the refinery continues to operate in compliance with regulatory requirements. Additionally, there is no damage to our red mud storage facility,” the spokesperson said.