Demand for Union Territory status: Cooch Behar 'rail roko' enters fourth day

COOCH BEHAR: The 'rail roko' agitation led by Greater Cooch Behar People's Association ( GCPA) demanding Union Territory status or C category statehood for Cooch Behar entered the fourth day today, as rail traffic to from the northeastern region continued to be disrupted.

GCPA held a meeting with Cooch Behar District Magistrate P Ulaganathan last night but no breakthrough was achieved.

GCPA chief Bangshi Badan Barman said they were not satisfied with the meeting with the DM and would not lift the blockade till a Home Ministry representative arrives here for talks.

Barman said they would hold a central committee meeting of the GCPA later in the day.

The agitation began at 6 AM on Saturday when the activists squatted on tracks near New Cooch Behar station on Cooch Behar-New Jalpaiguri section, affecting railway link to the northeast region.

All trains from the region except the Dibrugarh- Guwahati-New Delhi Rajdhani Express were cancelled today, a spokesman of the North Eastern Frontier Railway said in Guwahati.

The Rajdhani Express is being diverted via Siliguri-New Jalpaiguri section, the spokesman said.

Besides inconveniencing thousands of commuters, the agitation has so far claimed one life.

A 29-year-old man had died on Sunday after falling ill in the Kanchenjungha Express which was stranded for several hours in Cooch Behar due to the stir.

Meanwhile, the NF Railway spokesman said the blockade sponsored by Adivasi National Convention Committee at Kokrajhar railway station in Assam was called off yesterday afternoon. They were demanding ST status for Adivasis of Assam.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had on Sunday appealed to the protesters in Cooch Behar and Haryana not to block railway lines or harm railway properties as it caused inconvenience to the common man.