Alipurduar, May 12: An association of bus drivers and conductors blocked all roads out of Falakata for nearly two-and-a-half hours today after two of their members were allegedly beaten up by police trying to lift another blockade on the state highway to Dhupguri.

Although the association later withdrew its agitation, it said the blockade on the Falakata-Dhupguri state highway would continue until their demands are met.

The blockade will force all Siliguri-bound vehicles from Cooch Behar and Alipurduar to take an hour-long detour.

Senior police officials have denied the allegations of a baton charge.

Today around 8am, members of the North Bengal Motor Karmi Sangho blocked the state highway to protest against last week’s incident in which a driver and a conductor of a bus on the Jalpaiguri-Falakata route were beaten up by a group of students.

Around 9.30am a police van arrived at the spot and the law enforcers allegedly rained baton blows on the protesters. Two of them, Rajib Das and Sanjoy Roy, were injured and had to be admitted to hospital.

In protest, the association blocked all the roads from Falakata between 10.30am and 1pm. The agitation was lifted only after administrative officials along with the police intervened.

Chandan Moitra, the secretary of the association, said: “It is surprising that commuters as well as the police are assaulting us. Following a request from the administration, we have withdrawn the blockade from all the roads except one, where the agitation will continue until the accused are punished.”

S.R. Mishra, the additional superintendent of police of Alipurduar, denied the charges against his force.

“The allegations of lathi-charge are absolutely baseless. We had simply tried to convince them to withdraw the blockade and clear the road, but they did not listen to us,” the additional superintendent said.