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

Kolkata 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. Locals have been protesting at the site demanding rehabilitation and compensation for the past 100 days. Those arrested include four women and seven men, all hailing 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 3 November, was based on a written complaint by Rakesh Kumar Meena, an LPAI Junior Engineer, dated November 2.

Construction at the Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI) site in Gotabari, Torsa Tea Garden, had been going on for nearly five months and during the period the locals maintained a peaceful, indefinite dharna beside the project site for over 100 days.