National

GJM relaxes bandh for 60 hours

Kolkata: The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) announced a 60-hour relaxation of the bandh, from 6 p.m. on Wednesday, called by it to demand a separate State comprising the Darjeeling hills and certain contiguous areas.

“The bandh has been relaxed for the convenience of local people and tourists wanting to leave the hills,” general secretary Roshan Giri told The Hindu over telephone from Darjeeling.

On the second day of the protest, life in the hills came to a virtual standstill but there was little impact in the Siliguri, Dooars and Terai regions in the plains of north Bengal though traffic in the region was disrupted for some time.

Thousands of tourists stranded in the hills for the past two days have started leaving. A special train brought tourists here in the morning. But hundreds more are unable to leave Sikkim, which has remained cut off because of the bandh.

The GJM has rejected Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s appeal to drop its demand for statehood and sit for talks to end the stalemate in the hills.

Addressing a rally in Darjeeling, GJM president Bimal Gurung vowed to “continue the movement for statehood till our demand for Gorkhaland is met.” The party rejected the offer for talks on conditions set by the Chief Minister.

In Kolkata, Congress leader and Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said his party leadership concurred that “under no circumstances can we support the demand for a State within a State.” He, however, attributed the impasse in the hills to the Chief Minister’s failure to assess the ground realities there.

Mr Bhattacharjee, with the participation of all political parties should help in creating an atmosphere that would get the GJM to drop the statehood demand in favour of greater development of the region, Mr. Dasmunsi said.

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