India

Eleven Torsa Tea Garden Residents Detained Over Land Port Protest

By Shiv Sahay Singh

Eleven residents of Torsa Tea Garden in Alipurduar district, West Bengal, were arrested on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, for protesting the construction of a land port at the India‑Bhutan border. The protest, which has been ongoing for more than 100 days, seeks rehabilitation and compensation for the affected families. The arrested group includes four women and seven men, all from adivasi/tribal communities. Family members reported that the detainees were not informed of their whereabouts for about 18 hours and were moved through four to five police stations before their arrests were registered. The FIR (Jaigaon PS Case No. 326/26), filed on November 3, was based on a written complaint by LPAI Junior Engineer Rakesh Kumar Meena dated November 2. Construction at the Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI) site in Gotabari, Torsa Tea Garden, has been underway for nearly five months. During that time, locals maintained a peaceful, indefinite dharna beside the project site. A press statement from Paschim Banga Cha Majoor Samity (PBCMS), a registered non‑political union of tea garden workers, noted that there had been no police complaint of obstruction or violence during the 100‑day protest. PBCMS said the confrontation began when bulldozers arrived on November 2 to work on disputed land, despite repeated demands for compensation. Protesters argued with officials, but the union stated that there was no violence, assault or damage to government property. The FIR names social activists Anuradha Talwar, Binoy Kerkatta and Mahesh Xalxo as having allegedly “provoked and instigated” the crowd, although none of them were present at the protest site. Earlier this year, an independent fact‑finding team led by Professor Virginius Xaxa, Siraj Dutt and Anuprada Singh visited Torsa from August 1‑3, 2026, and confirmed that generations of affected families have cultivated the land without ownership documents. Following the arrests, locals from the tea garden have begun protests against the administration at the proposed land port site. PBCMS has called for the immediate release of all 11 arrested persons and the withdrawal of the “false charges” against them and three others. The union’s demands include halting further evictions 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.