Nine express trains were cancelled and eight others diverted in the Ranchi railway division of South Eastern Railways in view of an indefinite rail blockade called by Kurmi organisations from Wednesday, an official said.
Several Kurmi bodies have called for an indefinite railway blockade at nine railway stations in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha from September 20 to press for their demand of Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the community and inclusion of Kurmali language in the eighth schedule of the Constitution.
A senior railway official said that the trains that were supposed to depart from their respective stations on Tuesday and enter Ranchi rail division the next day, have either been cancelled or diverted as a precautionary measure. Sheetal Ohdar, the president of Totemik Kurmi Vikas Morcha (TKVM), a leading Kurmi body in Jharkhand, said that several organisations including Adivasi Kurmi Samaj of West Bengal and Kurmi Sena of Odisha will participate in the stir. “The indefinite blockade of railway tracks will take place at Muri, Gomoh, Nimdih, Ghagra stations in Jharkhand, Khemasuli and Kustaur in West Bengal, and Harichandanpur, Jaraikela and Dhanpur in Odisha from September 20,” he told reporters here.