JDP activists stage a dharna in front of the district collectorate. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, May 27: Movement of trains between Chakradharpur and Tatanagar under South Eastern Railway was disrupted for several hours this morning as Jharkhand Disom Party (JDP) activists squatted on the tracks at Lotapahar on their national protest day.

The activists of JDP and its student wing blocked the Tata-Hata road at Karandih for about an hour, disrupting vehicular movement. The activists also staged a dharna in front of the district collectorate.

Railway police force was requisitioned to intervene and control the situation, said T.K. Bhattacharya, the area railway manager of Tatanagar.

JDP activists shouted slogans against the government for being anti-Adivasi and sat on the stretch at Karandih during the day. “It’s part of our national programme to protest against the atrocities meted out to Adivasis. We will hold this token protest on the 27th of every month,” said JDP chairman Salkhan Murmu.

He added that the JDP had no intention of harassing common people but the government must pay attention to our demands of uplifting the cause of the tribals living in seven states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Assam.

After staging a dharna in front of the district collectorate, the activists forwarded a memorandum to President Pratibha Patil through East Singhbhum deputy commissioner R.K. Agarwal highlighting the plight of the tribals.

Murmu said that their national protest programme would continue till problems of the tribals were redressed.