HC directs state to beef up security ahead of Kurmi blockade
Times of India | 19 September 2025The Samaj has called for repeated blockades in 2023 over its demand for ST status for Kurmis, inclusion of Kurmali language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, implementation of Kurmali traditional PESA law extension of Chotanagpur Tenancy Act to Kurmi lands in West Bengal and Odisha.
A division bench of Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Smita Das De directed the state to beef up security in line with the Calcutta High Court order on Sept 19, 2023.
The high court, in 2023, held that Adivasi Kurmi Samaj had no vested right to cause public inconvenience and directed the state to ensure that public movement was not hindered.
The petitioner submitted that the railways, during the previous agitation, incurred a loss of Rs 21 crore every day in the three states. The petitioner also pointed out that the agitating Kurmi community members came down to Kolkata on Sept 29, 2023, resulting in violence and damage to public and private property in the city.
