The trucks stuck in gutters at Dalimpur on Wednesday. (Anirban Choudhury)

Alipurduar, July 14: Three trucks loaded with coal tilted on NH31 after being stuck in deep ditches near Falakata this morning, leaving at least 300 vehicles stranded. Another 200 vehicles were blocked by people demanding electricity elsewhere on the highway in the Alipurduar subdivision.

While the trucks were pulled out of the gutters by cranes at Dalimpur at 5pm, the blockade at Kalipur was withdrawn around 3 in the afternoon.

The trucks were going from Assam to Uttar Pradesh when they jumped into deep ditches on the highway at Dalimpur in Falakata block around 5am. The trucks tilted on the road and all efforts to bring the vehicles out the gutters were in vain till this evening. No official from the public works department had reached the spot.

Gyanprit Singh, the driver of one of the trucks, said: “We were going with coal from Jogigopa in Assam to UP. We started last Tuesday and we had already lost three days because of poor condition of road in Assam. We are stuck here again.”

At least 300 vehicles, including buses and cars, were held up at either end of the spot, 44km from here.

Rama Lama and Sita Karji were among 600 people left stranded at Dalimpur. “We were coming from Birpara for BA admission to Falakata College. We reached the college after travelling 25km extra in an auto-rickshaw,” said Karji.

Two cranes were brought to the spot by police, but they failed to pull the vehicles out of the ditches. Later, the coal was unloaded into two other trucks and the three vehicles were lifted. The traffic was cleared around 5pm.

People of Kalipur, about 30km from here, began the blockade on NH31 at 8am. They were demanding electricity in the village. More than 200 vehicles were stopped at both ends of the protest spot, throwing a spanner in the plans of around 400 people. The road is used by vehicles from Alipurduar to reach Siliguri and Jalpaiguri.

Ratan Kundu from Samuktala had an appointment with a private firm. “I have to attend an interview in a private company. But we are stopped here by the protesters. I do not know whether I will be able to attend the interview or not,” said Kundu.

Although police had reached the spot, the protesters said they wanted to talk to civic officials about their demand. The picketing was withdrawn at 3pm after local officials assured the villagers that the government would look into their demand.