GUWAHATI: A seven-hour rail blockade set up by the
Adivasi National Convention Committee (ANCC) at
Kokrajhar railway station from 6 am on Tuesday affected train services between the northeast and the rest of the country.
The ANCC was demanding inclusion of the adivasi community in the scheduled tribe list. Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) officials said movement of trains was stopped completely for three to four hours. Four local passenger trains were cancelled. Sixteen long distance trains were stopped, but they resumed their trips after the blockade was lifted in the afternoon.
The Dibrugarh Town-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, the Guwahati-Anand Vihar Terminal North East Express and the
Gandhidham-Guwahati Kamakhya Express were among the trains which were disrupted. Up and down express trains, besides local passengers trains, were controlled at Bongaigaon and Lumding divisions in
Assam, at
Alipurduar and Cooch Behar in north
Bengal and Kathihar in
Bihar, officials said.
The ANCC has been demanding that the government grant ST status to the community, implement the Traditional Forest Dwellers Act and hand over permanent settlements and land deeds to the tea garden workers of Assam. On Tuesday, adivasi protesters from Chirang, Dhubri and Bongaigaon districts congregated at Kokrajhar with banners and placards, shouting slogans in support of their demands.
