Eleven tribals arrested for seeking rehabilitation for proposed land port project in West Bengal

Representative image. | Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Eleven people, all residents of Torsa Tea Garden located in West Bengal’s Alipurduar district, were arrested on Tuesday (November 3, 2026) for protesting against the construction of a land port at the India-Bhutan border. Local residents have been protesting at the site for the past 100 days, demanding rehabilitation and compensation.

Among those arrested are four women and seven men, all from adivasi/tribal communities. The family members of those arrested said that they were not aware of their whereabouts for about 18 hours and were moved to four to five police stations before registering their arrest. The FIR (Jaigaon PS Case No. 326/26), registered on November 3, was based on a written complaint by Rakesh Kumar Meena, an LPAI Junior Engineer, dated November 2.

A press statement by Paschim Banga Cha Majoor Samity (PBCMS), a registered non-political union of tea garden workers, points out that there was no police complaint of obstruction or violence during the preceding 100 days when the locals were protesting against land acquisition. According to PBCMS, the confrontation occurred when bulldozers arrived on November 2 to proceed with work on disputed land, ignoring the families’ repeated demands for compensation. People protested and argued with officials.

Earlier this year, an independent fact-finding team with Professor Virginius Xaxa, Siraj Dutt and Anuprada Singh visited Torsa from August 1-3 2026, and the findings confirm that generations of affected families have cultivated this land without ownership documents. Locals from the tea garden protested the arrests and launched protests against the administration at the site of the proposed land port.

Published – 05 Nov 2026 03:26 IST