By IANS,
Siliguri (West Bengal) : Normal life was affected in the three hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling as an indefinite shutdown, called by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) in support of a separate state of Gorkhaland, began at noon Monday.
Shops and offices remained closed, tourists vehicles stayed off the roads, and hundreds of tourists and students continued to move down to the plains from Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong sub-divisions.
“The indefinite shutdown began at 12 noon Monday. We have spared tourists and students, who came to study in Darjeeling schools from outside, for today (Monday) only and asked them to leave by tomorrow (Tuesday),” GJM press and publicity secretary Benoy Tamang said.
The GJM has also demanded that Inspector General of Police (North Bengal) K.L. Tamta be transferred out of the area, alleging that he was instigating people against the outfit.
According to sources, the district administration has alerted all police stations and other government establishments in the hills, and asked them to take precautions to prevent any untoward incident during the shutdown.
“We’ve already sent an assessment report on the situation to the state government. We are keeping a close watch on the political activity of the GJM,” Darjeeling Superintendent of Police Rahul Srivastava said.
“So far, there has been no blockade on National Highway (NH) numbers-31A, NH-31 and NH-55 by the GJM activists. Police patrolling is also on in these three national highways’ stretches,” he said.
The GJM, spearheading the movement in the hills for a separate Gorkhaland, organised indefinite shutdowns twice in the hills last year as also in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls this year, severely hitting tea and tourism – the bread and butter of the region.
Tripartite talks held last year in New Delhi had failed to break the deadlock.