Siliguri, March 29: Residents of Oodlabari, under Alipurduar division of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), will stage an indefinite rail roko and hunger strike starting April 1 to demand the upgrade of Oodlabari station.

Oodlabari Unnayan Committee (OUC), a local body which has been pressing the demand for the last six years, will organise the agitation that will continue until there is a specific assurance from Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) authorities.

Earlier, the NFR had promised to upgrade Oodlabari from a flag station to a full-fledged station after completion of the gauge-conversion work on the Siliguri-Alipurduar route. The conversion was completed last year and passenger trains started running between Siliguri junction and Alipurduar from November 20. There was, however, no status upgrade for Oodlabari.

“Despite the railway minister Nitish Kumar’s assurance and our memorandums, our plea remained unheeded. We are now getting ready for an indefinite rail roko, demonstration and hunger strike from April 1,” said OUC joint convener Asok Mukherjee.

“The railway authorities keep on saying that Oodlabaari will not be financially viable if it is upgraded to a full-fledged station. But even as a flag station, it is generating a window ticket sale of Rs 38,000 each month. The daily ticket sale has gone up to Rs 2,000 since the Intercity Express started halting here from last week. The revenue earned is only second to Alipurduar station on this route,” said Tapan Ghosh, another joint convener.

Jalpaiguri MP Minati Sen, too had voiced the demand for a full-fledged station in Parliament a number of times.

NFR general manager Vipan Nanda said: “We will definitely address the problems of Oodlabari residents. We have finished gauge conversion and have made the Intercity Express halt there. The process for station upgrade is also on.”

Nanda, however, refused to specify any time period within which the status upgrade would be carried out.