Kurmi groups’ bandh passes off peacefully

Rail and road transportation remained affected across Jharkhand during the one-day Jharkhand bandh called by Kurmi Vikas Morcha on Monday.

While the Capital City remained unaffected, select train routes and highways bore the brunt of the protest by the Bandh supporters. Security arrangements were tightened and quick actions were taken against the protestors, ensuring in the maintenance of law and order. Barring a few, most schools of the State remained open and ran as per their regular schedule.

State police said that a total of 866 people were detained during the day in the State which included 605, 241 and 20 people being arrested from Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad respectively. Additional police forces were deployed at sensitive areas. However, the situation in the entire State remained peaceful and there were no reports of violence, said State Police Spokesperson through a communiqué.

People from the Kurmi community, equipped with traditional weapons and drums came out on roads in the capital city to enforce bandh. The supporters obstructed the Ranchi Patratu Highway, near Kanke Chowk, preventing vehicles to ply, except ambulances early in the morning. However, they were arrested by police, who  cleared the highway.

Similar conditions prevailed in other districts of the State including Gola, Ramgarh, where the Bandh supporters obstructed the highway for more than three hours. Due to the fear of being targeted by Bandh supporters, long distance bus owners had only a few buses plying on the sensitive Jamshedpur-Ranchi route. Buses travelling to Odisha and Bengal were also fewer in numbers.  A total of 300 arrests were made from the three districts of East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan respectively; the bulk being from East Singhbhum (242).

Few trains in the state had to bear the brunt of the Bandh as the supporters stopped the Intercity express travelling to Howrah from Ranchi near Ganga Ghat at 6.50 AM on Monday. This train was halted here for 15 minutes and slogans were shouted by the supporters. The passengers began panicking and were skeptical about their journey ahead. However, the RPF, GRP and local police arrived at the situation and cleared the line by 7:50 AM.

Meanwhile, the Lokmanya Tilak Express travelling to Ranchi was also delayed due to the disturbance. The Bandh supporters protested on the railway tracks at Gola Road, blocking the Adra-Barkakhana Passenger. The Railway Police arrived and tackled the situation. Within 15 minutes the track was cleared and the train left for Barkakhana.

National Convenor of KVM, Sheetal Ohdar said that the political parties have used the Kurmis just for securing their vote banks. Commenting on the State-wide Bandh, Sheetal said, “In the upcoming elections, the Kurmis will vote only for that party which talks of the development of the Kurmi community. On one hand, the government is keeping us under the CNT Act, on the other, it tells the Central Government that we are a prosperous community,” Ohdar added. Further, she said that said that if the Government does not have a positive attitude over their demands then they will be forced to carry out furious agitations in the coming days.    

The Kurmi community is demanding Scheduled Tribe status in the State, while the ST groups have declared to protest if such initiative is taken by the government.

In the wake of the protest by the Para teachers and the KVM observing a Bandh, strict security arrangements were made in the City. Apart from magistrates, heavy police force was deployed at the sensitive places in Ranchi.