This was announced by Jamiat state Secretary Siddiqullah Chowdhury on Tuesday, who’s also steering PDCI and its allies in a political coalition. Normal life might be affected in Burdwan, Birbhum, East Midnapore, Hooghly, Howrah and some parts of Kolkata due to the strike.

The blockade has been called to protest against the setting up of a proposed township at Dankuni and a power plant at Katwa. PDCI has alleged that the two proposed projects will damage agricultural land, temples, mosques, educational institutions and livelihood of the labourers in the areas concerned.

Party sources, however, told The Indian Express that the blockade will help PDCI assess its strength in pockets where it intends to contest the upcoming panchayat elections. PDCI has claimed to have already reached out to 14 districts, where they have set up 200 block-level committees and 1,500 village-level committees. “PDCI, along with our coalition partners, will contest 20,000 seats of the total 49,000 seats,” Chowdhury said.