Rail blockade in Bengal’s Cooch Behar withdrawn; train services affected

Kolkata (The Uttam Hindu): The rail blockade protest organised by the Greater Cooch Behar People’s Association at West Bengal’s Jorai railway station on Wednesday, demanding a separate Cooch Behar State, was finally withdrawn. The blockade which started in the morning, threw train services totally out of gear in almost the entire north Bengal and parts of northeastern India.

The protesters deliberately chose Jorai station near the Assam-West Bengal border as the principal blockade point so that railway services are affected not only in north Bengal but also in parts of north-eastern India. Initially, the protesters said that they would be continuing the rail blockade protest indefinitely as done eight years back in 2016, when the same Jorai station was the main blockade point. In 2016, the rail blockade protests continued for 80 hours, following which the police intervened. However this time, the blockade was withdrawn in the afternoon after senior railways officials had a discussion with the protesters for a couple of hours. The protesters claimed that although they have withdrawn the strike for the time being keeping in mind the inconvenience to the passengers, in future also they will adopt similar protests if their demands are not fulfilled. During the discussions with the railway officials, the protesters sought that their demand on the issue should be conveyed to the offices of the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister. They also handed over their charter of demands to the railway officials, who promised to forward the same to the offices of the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister. As per the latest information available, train services are becoming normal in the region as several trains stranded at different stations have started moving towards their destination. Following the rail blockade, some trains were cancelled while the routes of some trains were diverted.

The Greater Cooch Behar People’s Association was formed in 1998 and claimed that the inclusion of the erstwhile Cooch Behar kingdom in West Bengal was illegal. They also claimed that when the agreement for the merger of the erstwhile princely state of Cooch Behar with India was signed in 1949, a promise of giving separate statehood to Cooch Behar was made.