Trains cancelled, diverted due to Kurmi community agitation

Several trains under the purview of SER and ECoR were cancelled or diverted on Wednesday, including the premium Rajdhani Express and Vande Bharat Express, owing to the blockade by members of the Kurmi community in Jharkhand and Odisha, officials said.

A total of seven trains were cancelled and nine others diverted, the South Eastern Railway (SER) said in a release.

The trains that were diverted “due to ongoing agitation by Kurmi Samaj” include the Patna-Ranchi Vande Bharat Express and Howrah-Mumbai Duronto Express, while those cancelled were the Howrah-Mumbai Gitanjali Express and Hatia-Kharagpur Express, among others, it said.

Meanwhile, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) in another release said a number of trains have been cancelled and diverted for the day, which include Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Duronto Express and Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express.

‘Agitation by Kudmi Adivasi Samaj, which was cancelled yesterday as per the directions of Hon’ble High Court of Kolkata, has taken a new turn today with agitation taking place at various places in Jharkhand like Manoharpur near Chakradharpur, Gomoh and at other places near Muri,’ it said. A division bench of the Calcutta High Court, headed by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam, had on Tuesday declared the call for indefinite rail and road blockades by Kurmi community as illegal and unconstitutional. Several Kurmi bodies had earlier announced the stir at nine stations in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha from Wednesday, including Muri, Gomoh, Nimdih, Khemasuli, Kustaur and Harichandanpur, seeking Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for community, and inclusion of Kurmali language in eighth schedule of the Constitution.

In Jharkhand, defying prohibitory orders, several agitators marched to the Muri Railway Station and sat on railway tracks, the officials said.

Police also lathicharged protestors near the Nimdih railway crossing in Seraikela-Kharswan district when they attempted to put up blockades, Sub-Divisional Officer of Chandil, Ranjit Lohra said.

Convenor of the Adivasi Kurmi Samaj (AKS) Harmohan Mahato claimed that over a dozen of its activists were detained at Nimdih.