Plains groups get ready to bust blockades

- 48 hrs for govt to act against protesters

Source:Telegraph

Vidyarthi Morcha members at the four-hour road blockade at Sevoke Bazar on NH31, around 15km from Siliguri, on Monday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo
Siliguri, Dec. 28: Anti-Gorkhaland forces today threatened to remove by force blockades set up by the Gorkha Janmukti Vidyarthi Morcha if the government did not intervene within 48 hours. The threat comes as the hill outfit picketed on three national highways for the third day today.

“It is surprising to see that the state government is sitting idle, albeit witnessing the inconvenience faced by thousands of people in the past two days,” said Mukunda Majumdar, the president of Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Committee.

“They have made some arrests in Alipurduar but not in Darjeeling district. Nothing has been done so far to deter the Morcha supporters from blocking the highways and the rail tracks. We want to make it clear that if the state government continues to remain silent for another two days and similar blockades continue, we will organise rallies and reach the spots to clear the roads and rail routes on our own.”

Much like yesterday, the blockades continued on NH55 at Panchnoi, located on the outskirts of Siliguri, while NH31 and NH31A were blocked at Sevoke Bazar, Sevoke Coronation Bridge and Rangpo. The bridge is the junction of NH31 leading to the Northeast and NH31A that connects Gangtok.

Some supporters sat on the level crossing in Sevoke Bazar. Trains running on this route from 12 noon to 4pm were halted at some stations.


Morcha supporters lay siege to the Darjeeling police station on Monday. Picture by Suman Tamang
“We have come to know of the blockade and thus, trains are being regulated and detained at different stations like Katihar, New Jalpaiguri and Siliguri Junction. This will make the trains run late by three to four hours,” said G.D. Mondal, the station manager of New Jalpaiguri.

According to Northeast Frontier Railway sources, at least three long-distance Up trains — Mahananda Express, Capital Express and the Ranchi-Alipurduar Express — were affected because of the blockade, as were the local trains that ply between New Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar.

All three express trains that take the Dooars track from Siliguri Junction station between 12 noon and 3pm and enter Alipurduar within 4pm to 6pm were delayed by four hours.

“There wasn’t any need to reach home early but I had to take a vehicle from Siliguri at 8 in the morning just to escape the blockade and reach Kalimpong before noon,” said Supriya Poudyal, a resident of the hill town.

Sikkim Nationalised Transport buses plying from Siliguri to the Himalayan state left by 9.30am.

“Normally the buses leave at hourly intervals from 7am and the last bus from here departs at 1.30pm. Since yesterday, we have been sending all the buses by 9.30 in the morning so that they cross Rangpo by 11am. There is no dearth of passengers though, as they arrived here early so as not to miss the buses. Some of the buses coming here from Sikkim were stranded in the blockade yesterday,” said Tulsi Prasad Sharma, the traffic inspector of SNT in Siliguri.

Tour operators said visitors on packages were leaving ahead of schedule. “Four to five groups of tourists who had opted for three and four day tour packages left a day early as they apprehended problems in the region. A honeymoon couple from Mumbai missed their train to Calcutta yesterday because they were stranded at Rangpo. They took a bus to Calcutta instead. The Christmas and New Year week is a peak tourist season and strikes and these blockades hamper tourism,” said Bhaichung Bhutia, the sales-manager of Blue Sky Tours and Travels in Gangtok.

Keshav Raj Pokhrel, the general secretary of the Vidyarthi Morcha, said the blockade would be for five hours from tomorrow from 10am to 3pm, as a mark of protest for arrests made in Dalsinghpara.

Asked about Sikkim, he said: “We have nothing against Sikkim but incidentally, a portion of NH31A comes under our proposed territory of Gorkhaland. We have no alternative but to raise blockades.”