A section of residents of ward 14 of Balurghat municipality on Friday stopped dump trucks from unloading stones which were brought for a railway project, saying the heavy vehicles would damage the local road.

The protesters also said the site to dump the stones should be shifted from the ground at Chakbhrigu.

The stones were meant to build a railway bridge over the Atrayee river.

The railway ministry had decided to extend the tracks from Balurghat to Hili, located on the Bangladesh border, 12 years ago. However, the work on the 30km-long tracks was halted because of various reasons, including delays in land acquisition.

The state government started acquiring land in phases and has already handed over plots to the railways for a 14km stretch between Balurghat and Kamarpara.

Residents stand in front of a truck carrying stones in Balurghat on Friday.

Biplab Mondal, a resident of Chakbhrigu, said heavy dump trucks, which were loaded with stones, had been entering their locality for the past three to four days.

“The road that the trucks take was recently repaired and can't bear the load of vehicles weighing around 10 tons. If such heavy vehicles continuously move through the area, the road will be damaged. That is why we stopped the trucks from plying on the local road," said Mondal.

When the trucks reached the local ground on Friday, the vehicles weren't allowed to unload the stones.

“We favour the tracks to Hili. But instead of using the heavy vehicles, tractors with trailers can be used to carry the stones in our area so that the road doesn’t get damaged,” said Mondal.

Some other residents pointed out children played on the local ground where heaps of stones were lying. “The civic body should set aside another vacant place where the stones can be dumped,” said one of them.

The Balurghat MP and Union minister of state, Sukanta Majumdar, however, alleged that a section of Trinamool Congress supporters was disrupting the railway project with political interests.

“Work on the project has started after many years. I have learned that those who have stopped the vehicles are TMC activists. This was done with political interests,” said Majumdar.

Anoj Sarkar, the Trinamool councillor of ward 14, said: “The railways should ask the contractor to use light vehicles like tractors to carry the stones. There is no politics in it.”