The police have vowed to act against those who obstruct the movement of government vehicles in the Darjeeling hills.
The warning comes in the wake of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM)'s threat on Saturday to ban the movement of such vehicles in the region indefinitely, demanding the arrest of those responsible for assaulting its workers at Panighata in Darjeeling district on April 13.
“Police vehicles are going wherever required. But if there is any obstruction, legal steps will be taken against those responsible,” Gaurav Sharma, Additional Superintendent of Police, Siliguri, told The Hindu on the telephone on Sunday.
“The ban on the movement of government and police vehicles will continue till those responsible for the attack on GJM workers are arrested,” GJM spokesperson, Rohit Sharma, said.
He said five persons, including a woman, were severely injured after being attacked by supporters of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF). “They were returning home after an indoor meeting of the GJM when they were ambushed by GNLF workers.”
“GJM president Bimal Gurung has approved of the decision to impose the ban till the culprits are arrested. Emergency services have, however, been exempted,” he said.
The development comes ahead of another round of talks scheduled in New Delhi for next week between officials of the Union Home Ministry and the West Bengal Government and GJM leaders on the powers and jurisdiction of the interim “regional authority” proposed by the GJM for Darjeeling district and certain areas contiguous to it. The talks are to be followed by the sixth round of tripartite discussions to be held in mid-May on the fate of the proposed interim setup.
The GJM leadership has revised the “map” it had drawn up earlier, indicating areas it wants to be in its proposed “Gorkhaland” State. Certain parts of the Dooars have been left out, and the jurisdiction of the proposed regional authority (whose term, according to the GJM, will end on December 31, 2011) now comprises Darjeeling district and those areas in the Dooars that have a pre-dominantly Gorkha population. The State government, which has ruled out the creation of a separate State, is also opposed to the inclusion of any area beyond the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling district in the jurisdiction of the proposed interim setup.
