Shutdown call sends residents shopping

Darjeeling/Kurseong, Feb. 19: People in the hills formed long queues in front of banks, ration shops and grocery stores today, as they tried to stock up on cash and food ahead of the indefinite bandh called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

The Morcha has announced the shutdown to protest against the proposed Sixth Schedule status for Darjeeling and demand the removal of GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh as the caretaker administrator of the DGHC.

“We had to call the bandh because the Centre and the Bengal government are trying to forcibly impose the special status on us,” said Morcha spokesperson Binay Tamang in Darjeeling.

Residents fear that the bandh may stretch beyond the weekend.

In Kurseong, people made a beeline for the ATM counters at Motor Stand and the one on the SBI premises at P.B. Road from the morning.

“As the banks will remain open only on Tuesdays and Fridays (following a Morcha announcement), I had to go to the ATM today. I must draw some money so that I can purchase enough edibles to last a few days,” said P. Thapa of Kurseong’s Chandbari.

The town’s vegetable market, Hat Bazaar, was crowded right through the day. “Even if I had more items, I would have sold everything,” said Suraj Chettri, a vegetable-seller.

The bandh call has hit the tourism industry hard. Many tour operators in Darjeeling said there was “mass cancellation of bookings”. “Thankfully, this is the lean season when few tourists come to the hills,” said one operator.

The tea industry, too, is keeping its fingers crossed. “Although, we do not start the manufacturing process till mid-March (after the first flush), a prolonged strike would definitely affect the gardens,” said a senior planter.

Even during the lean season, the industry employs around 55,000 permanent workers. “If the strikers demand that the workers must be paid for the bandh days, the industry will have to cough up quite a bit as the daily wage in the hills is about Rs 54,” said an industry watcher.