Incomes screech to halt in plains

Siliguri, June 19: The owners of at least 500 vehicles in the plains are losing out on Rs 500 to Rs 800 a day because of the indefinite bandh called by the Gorkha Janmutki Morcha in the Darjeeling hills.

Around 1,000 drivers and cleaners are apprehensive of losing their jobs.

Shyamal Das owns two Tata Spacios that runs on Siliguri-Darjeeling route. Since the bandh began, he has been running from pillar to post to borrow money. “I have to pay Rs 16,000 in EMIs for the car loans by the beginning of next month,” Das said. “Added to this, are the salaries of two drivers and two cleaners.”

At least 500 small vehicles ply between Siliguri and Darjeeling everyday, Kamal Khawas, the secretary of the Siliguri Taxi Owners’ Association, said. “The strike has sealed our income. Only a handful ferry school students within Siliguri.”

The average daily earning of an owner ranges from Rs 500-Rs 800, he added. Most vehicle-owners said they had nothing against the Gorkhaland movement. “But this sudden bar on traffic has put us in a spot,” said Kamal Bhujel who owns two Spacios. “Even if the number of tourists had come down we would have managed by carrying local passengers,” said Subhas Chhetri, another vehicle owner. The Morcha had asked all tourists to leave the hills before launching it shutdown.

Ganesh Mahato, a central committee member of the Mainline Drivers’ Association, said: “Around 1,000 people are apprehensive of losing their jobs. Some of them have started working as touts at Tenzing Norgay bus terminus.” Mahato and Khawas said since their vehicles have permits to ply only within the district, they cannot make trips to other places like Cooch Behar or North Dinajpur.

On the other hand, buses to the Dooars have stopped plying. “Morcha blockades on NH31 in Sevoke and Mongpong, which are located in the hills, have hit services on the Siliguri-Dooars route,” Uday Ghosh, secretary of the Siliguri Dooars Minibus Owners’ Association, said. “Around 100 buses run between the Dooars and Siliguri and each one of them is losing Rs 1,000 daily.”

Not that the entire Dooars is affected. Some parts like Alipurduar can be accessed by bus through the Jalpaiguri-Mainaguri-Dhupguri-Birpara route. But residents of Malbazar and Sadar subdivisions of Jalpaiguri district, the most affected areas, have written to chief minister Buddhedeb Bhattacharjee for intervention.

“Although life is normal in the Dooars as there is no strike, the lack of transport to Siliguri, has put us in trouble,” said Pravat Dey, secretary of the Dooars East West Corridor Movement Committee. “We have written to the chief minister that the situation might turn volatile if traffic is not allowed in the Dooars at the earliest.”