Tatanagar: Bandh supporters disrupt railway and road in few parts of Jharkhand 

Ranchi, December 30: Rail services and vehicular movement were disrupted at some places in Jharkhand on Saturday, owing to a “symbolic Bharat bandh” call given by a tribal organisation in support of its long-standing demand for recognition of Sarna religion and  inclusion in the Census, officials said.

Among the affected rail networks were the Chakradharpur and Adra divisions of South Eastern Railway (SER), they said.

Trains, including the Ranchi-Howrah Vande Bharat Express, were detained at Purulia for over an hour as supporters of the ‘Adivasi Sengel Abhiyan’ (ASA) put up blockades on the Kantadih-Tatanagar line under Adra division, a railway official said.

The train was later diverted to continue its onward journey via the Purulia-Kotshila-Muri-Chandil-Tatanagar route, he said.

The Hatia-Kharagpur Express was cancelled for the day, while the Ranchi-Howrah Express and Hatia-Tatanagat Express were diverted via Muri-Chandil-Tatanagar.

Around 100 protesters also squatted on the tracks at Bahalda Road between Adityapur-Gamariah and Maluka-Dangaoposi stations under the Chakradharpur division, the official said.

The agitation was withdrawn around 12.20 pm in Adra and Chakradharpur divisions and train services normalised, a release issued by the Railways said.

The bandh supporters also put up blockades at various places on Tata-Hata Road in Karandih, Rola Chowk, Birsa Chowk, Seraikela as well as in Byhatu chowk on the Chaibasa-Ranchi Road, the officials said.

ASA president Salkhan Murmu claimed that the bandh evoked “good response not only in Jharkhand, but also in other parts of Eastern India including West Bengal and Odisha”.

Murmu, a former Mayurbhanj (in Odisha) parliamentarian, said tribals were left with no other option but to give a bandh call, “as our repeated pleas for recognition of Sarnaism fell on deaf ears”.

“The Sarna religion code is the identity of 15 crore adivasis of the country, as the tribals worship only nature,” he said, adding, the outfit would intensify the agitation “if our legitimate demand was not met”.

Sarna is the indigenous religious faith of tribal communities, who predominantly worship natural elements such as mountains, forests and wildlife. The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has suggested that Sarna religion be accorded independent category in the religion code of the Census.

As per the list shared by the bandh protagonist, there were road blockades in certain parts of Bokaro, Hazaribagh, East Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharswan in Jharkhand. In Odisha road blockades were held at different parts of Mayurbhanj district, In Assam national highway were blocked for few hours in Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur districts while in Bengal roads were blocked in Jhargram, Bankura, Purulia, Birbhum, South Dinajpur, North Dinajpur, Hooghly and Malda districts.

The bandh supporters claimed to have disrupted railway traffics at Chandil, Maluka and Gamharia stations in Jharkhand while in Assam rail track in Kokrajhar district was blocked for a while and in Bengal  railway was disturbed at Kantadih railway station in Purulia, Nolhati railway station (Birbhum) and Adina railway station (Malda). In Bihar, tracks at Barsoi station (Katihar) and Bariyarpur junction (Munger) were blocked.