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

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.

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.

“There was no violence, assault or damage to government property. Protest and disagreement cannot be criminalised as violence,” the union said in a press statement.

The FIR names prominent social activist Anuradha Talwar, Binoy Kerkatta and Mahesh Xalxo as having allegedly “provoked and instigated” the crowd, however, neither of the three was present at the protest site.

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. Protesting against the arrests, locals from the tea garden have started protests against the administration at the proposed land port site.

Observing that the West Bengal government has chosen bulldozers and police action instead of dialogue, PBCMS has called for immediate release of all 11 arrested persons and withdrawal of the “false charges” against the 11 residents and three others.

 The demands by PBCMS include an immediate halt to further eviction until land rights, compensation and rehabilitation claims are resolved and recognition of tea garden workers’ land rights and ownership of the land they have occupied and used for generations.