The protesters at the Dinhata camp. (MU Chisti)

Cooch Behar, Dec. 22: Nine persons have been on a fast-unto-death in Dinhata from December 12 to demand a state of Greater Cooch Behar.

The protesters, who included a woman, are lying under a makeshift shed at Dinhata’s Prantik Bazar and have refused to take any medical aid. They also rejected appeals from the administration to withdraw the fast.

This prompted the Separate State Demand Committee (SSDC), comprising the Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party, Kamtapur People’s Party and nine organisations from Assam, to raise its voice against the administration’s alleged apathy over the fast.

Babua Barman, the SSDC secretary, said the administration’s indifference was “inhuman”. “Nine of our members have been on a fast for the past 11 days. We have now decided that several hundreds of our members will begin a fast-unto-death at Gandhi Maidan in Assam’s Bongaigaon from tomorrow.”

The SSDC took a leaf out of the Morcha’s fast-unto-death in Darjeeling, 340km away, following the Centre’s announcement on Telangana on December 10. Morcha members had sat on the fast in the three hill subdivisions, Siliguri and Kalchini.

To protest the alleged government apathy, hundreds of SSDC members today sat on a token hunger strike in front of all the 12 block development offices in Cooch Behar from 10am to 4pm.

Asutosh Barma, the president of the Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party, said the movement for a separate state would be intensified in the coming days. “We are beginning with a day-long gherao of the Cooch Behar district magistrate’s office by our women’s front on December 24. This will be followed by the gherao of the Jalpaiguri divisional commissioner’s office on December 29. The Prantik bazar fast will continue,” Barma added.

Cooch Behar additional superintendent of police Amit P. Javalgi said no untoward incident had taken place around the indefinite fast. “A picket has been set up at Prantik Bazar,” he said.

On Friday, the police admitted Lalchand Barman, a protester whose condition had turned serious, to the subdivisional hospital at Dinhata. Next day, the SSDC took out processions in protest. Lalchand is still in hospital on saline drip but has refused to eat.

Dinhata subdivisional officer Chiranjib Ghosh said the protesters had been requested to withdraw the fast and instead send their demand in writing to the government. “We are still requesting them, but they will not listen. The condition of all nine is very serious. We are keeping a watch on the situation,” Ghosh added.