By IANS,
Gangtok : The Sikkim government has inititated steps to stock essential commodities after the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) threatened an indefinite shutdown in the Darjeeling hills in West Bengal, an official said Thursday.
The state suffers every time the GJM, agitating for Gorkhaland to be carved out of parts of northern West Bengal, gives calls for shutdowns as the National Highway 31 A – the lifeline of Sikkim – gets blocked.
D. Anandan, magistrate of the East District, which borders West Bengal’s Darjeeling, said: “We want to ensure that there are enough stocks of essential commodities to last one to two months, and to assess the preparedness of men and machinery.”
Anandan said if the situation so demands, there would be rationing of diesel and petrol, and if the available stock goes below 3,000 litres, the administration would have to resort to a coupon system.