Raiganj, June 12: Harried tourists coming from Siliguri got stuck on NH-34 for 10 hours today as a tribal group wanting official recognition for their language blocked the road in North Dinajpur.

The protesters put rocks on the highway at Bilaspur, 28km from Raiganj, at 7am.

Caught in the traffic pile-up were Rajat Chowdhury and his parents from Barrackpore. They had gone to Gangtok and could not make it to New Jalpaiguri to catch the Darjeeling Mail on June 10.

“We and another family hired a Tata Sumo for Rs 6,000 and reached the bus terminus in Siliguri around 1am today,” Rajat said.

They boarded a Calcutta-bound bus at 5am. “I heaved a sigh of relief. We were on our way home at last, I thought.” But around 8am, the bus stopped near Bilaspur.

Arati Das from Jadavpur said her family had gone to Pelling in Sikkim. “We paid through our nose and hired a car to come down to Siliguri... then got a car to take us to Calcutta at 4am today. But here we are, without food or water.”

The blockade was lifted around 5pm when district authorities accepted a memorandum from the tribals, who said they knew “people were stuck”. But their demand was a long-standing one, so they were “helpless”.