Kurmi protest seeking ST status paralyses rail, road traffic in Bengal

Eighty-five trains were cancelled, and hundreds of vehicles remained stranded as different organisations of the Kurmi community continued their rail and road blockade in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district on Thursday, demanding Scheduled Tribe status, officials said.

The protest started at 6 am on Tuesday with the blockade of the old National Highway 6, which connects Kolkata to Mumbai, at Khemasuli in Kharagpur Local police station area by Kudmi Samaj West Bengal, they said.

Another organisation of the community, Adivasi Kurmi Samaj, joined the protest on Wednesday, blocking the railway tracks at Khemasuli station in Kharagpur-Tatanagar section, and Kustaur station in Adra-Chandil section in Purulia district, they added.

Among the trains cancelled on Thursday were Howrah-Pune Duranto Express, Howrah-Jagdalpur Express, Howrah-Pune Azad Hind Express, Howrah-Ahmedabad Express, Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Howrah-Ranchi Express, Shalimar-LTT Express, Howrah-Mumbai CSMT Mail and Santragachi-Rani Kamlapati Humsafar Express, the South Eastern Railway said in a statement.

Puri-New Delhi Express, Mumbai-CSMT-Howrah Duranto Express and Jagdalpur-Howrah Express were also cancelled, it said.

"As a result of the agitation, a total of 158 trains have been cancelled since Wednesday," it added,

Six trains were short-terminated, and Anand Vihar-Bhubaneswar Express scheduled for Friday and Yog Nagari Rishikesh-Puri Express scheduled for Sunday were also cancelled.

On Wednesday, 46 express and passenger trains were cancelled owing to the agitation.

Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on NH 6, triggering massive traffic snarls even on the adjoining roads in Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram districts.

Some of the vehicles were being diverted through Balibhasha in Jhargram to bypass the blockade, officials said.

Drivers of the stranded vehicles said they were facing scarcity of food and water.

The organisation of the Kudmi community, which is classified as OBC at present, are protesting in different districts of the state, including Dakshin Dinajpur, Purulia, Jhargram and Paschim Medinipur.

Officials of the Paschim Medinipur district administration held a meeting with the agitating organisations on Wednesday but failed to reach a settlement.

"The blockade will continue until our demands are met," said Tapas Mahato, a leader of Kudmi Samaj West Bengal.