Rajbangshi protest headway eludes

The railway blockade at New Cooch Behar station . Pic:Main Uddin Chisti

TT, Feb. 22: A four-member team of the Greater Cooch Behar Peoples' Association, an outfit that has blocked tracks in Cooch Behar demanding Union Territory status for the district, today met the district magistrate for talks but nothing came of it as the Rajbangshis stuck to their demands.

The GCPA wants a representative of the Union home ministry to speak to its activists, but district magistrate P. Ulganathan reportedly told them this was a "lengthy process and that the administration needs time".

Bhabesh Chandra Burman, the GCPA deputy secretary who headed the team, said the outfit would continue with its protest as the talks with the DM had given them no clarity on whether Union home ministry officials would be called to speak to them.

"We spoke with the district magistrate and gave him a memorandum, mentioning our demands. We said a representative from the Union home ministry should come here to speak to us and the district administration should provide us with the date, time and venue for the meeting. Only then, can we consider the request to withdraw our agitation," Bhabesh Chandra said.

The protest that rolled into its third day has led to the cancellation of 39 trains.

"Now that the rail roko is on for three days, it is having a cascading effect on the movement of trains. The main route is blocked and the Dooars route has certain limitations like the track is single, and second, trains need to run at moderate and slow speeds as there are elephant corridors, a senior official of NFR said.

Today, train movement on the north Bengal-Northeast route further worsened as supporters of the Adivasi National Convention Committee - an outfit demanding Scheduled Tribe status to tribals in Assam - held a five-hour rail roko at Kokrajhar station in Assam this morning. The blockade started at 8am and continued till 1pm, bringing train movement to a halt in Assam.

In Cooch Behar, another lobby of the GCPA, led by Anant Roy, organised the birth anniversary of Chila Roy, the brother of Koch king Naranarayan, a fighter idolised by Rajbangshis.

"We organised the birth anniversary of Chila Roy, the most venerated fighter of the then Cooch Behar state. We, however, do not support the movement taken up by some others in New Cooch Behar station as it is causing inconvenience to thousands of people," said Ananta said, while attending the celebrations at Chakchaka, on the outskirts of Cooch Behar town.