Bhopal, Aug 4 (IANS) As many as 12,500 junior doctors of five medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh, who had called off their five-day-old agitation Saturday on the directives of the high court and later tendered their resignations en masse, returned to work Monday. “We decided to return to work since our resignations were not accepted by the government and we have been assured by Principal Secretary (Health) M.M. Upadhyaya that all our demands would be considered sympathetically,” Madhya Pradesh Junior Doctors Association president Jeevan Singh Meena told IANS.

The junior doctors were on strike in all five medical colleges of the state - at Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior and Rewa - since Tuesday to press the government to enhance their stipend and lower their tuition fees on the lines of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

However, when the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, hearing a public suit Friday, declared their strike illegal and asked them to return to work, they first joined their duties and but later resigned en masse.

“But our resignations were not accepted and we had two rounds of talks with the the principal secretary (health) Sunday in a very cordial atmosphere. Seeing the positive response of the government, we decided to return to work,” said Meena.