Kolkata: Additional Director General (ADG), Law and Order, Jawed Shamim on Friday said that no obstruction to normal life will be tolerated in Purulia in connection with the proposed “Black Day” observance and indefinite rail blockade announced by the Adibasi Kudmi Samaj.
He added that police will act in line with the Calcutta High Court’s directions.
Addressing a press conference at Bhabani Bhavan, Shamim said the railway authorities and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) have been asked to take adequate precautions, including
deployment of additional forces, to protect railway property and prevent any untoward incident.
As a precautionary measure, additional police personnel, including specialised forces earlier stationed in Jhargram, West Midnapore and Bankura, have now been deployed in Purulia.
Several pickets have also been set up, and special naka checks are in place.
“The organisers have given us an undertaking. We have requested them not to hamper normal life by blocking train movement or roads. The Calcutta High Court’s order is clear. We will act if any disturbance is created,” Shamim said.
A Division Bench of Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Smita Das De, while hearing petitions filed by the Purulia Chamber of Trade and Industry and one Goutam Mahato, noted that similar agitations in
September 2022 and April 2023 had forced the South Eastern Railway to cancel 39 trains, resulting in an estimated loss of Rs 60 crore.
The disruption had caused hardship to citizens in Bankura, Jhargram, Purulia, and West Midnapore, with ripple effects in Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
Reiterating its interim order of September 19, 2023, the court held that blocking rail and road traffic is “illegal and unconstitutional” and directed the state to deploy additional forces.