Ashutosh Swami at Aluabari Road Station on Wednesday. Picture by Mehedi Hedaytullah

Islampur, Feb. 25: The Trinamul Congress today withdrew its hunger strike that had been going at the Aluabari Road Station since February 1 after extracting an assurance on their key demand from North-east Frontier Railway (NFR.)

The general manager of the NFR, Ashutosh Swami, told the agitators that Kanchenjungha Express and Capital Express would halt at the Aluabari station. However, he said the stop for Kamrup Express at Aluabari would be withdrawn. “In lieu, Kanchenjungha Express will halt at Aluabari. Capital Express will stop tentatively for three months,” he said.

“If we find that the stop is convenient for the railways and passengers, Capital Express will have regular halts at the station. We hope that we can begin the experiment from the first week of March,” he said.

Swami, who visited different stations between Maligaon and Katihar on a special train, met the Trinamul workers, who were on the fast, demanding stops for some trains at Aluabari station.

On the demand to rename Aluabari station as New Islampur station, Swami said a decision on that could be taken only on the basis of a recommendation by the state government. He ruled out the possibility of any train bound for south India being granted permission to halt at the station. But he assured Trinamul members that the demand would be placed before the railway ministry.

After the withdrawal of the hunger strike, Trinamul supporters, led by formal Islampur MLA Karim Chowdhury, brought out a “victory” rally, proclaiming that the railways had taken decision following the agitation by the party.

President of the Transferred Area Suryapur Organisation (TASO) Chittaram Singha, however, said it would be unfair to give the whole credit to any party.

“The agitation was first launched by us. Later, the Congress and the CPM also organised movements, raising these demands. You can only say that sustained movements by everyone culminated in the railways’ decision,” he said.