Normal life was paralysed as an indefinite bandh began today in Darjeeling for a separate Gorkhaland state, with a GJM supporter who had attempted immolation five days ago succumbing to his injuries.
The 45-year-old GJM supporter, Mangal Singh Rajput, who had set himself ablaze at Dambarchowk in Kalimpong town on July 31, died of his burns at a private nursing home in Siliguri, police sources said.
Prakash Singh Gurung, a council member of the Gorkha Territorial Administration, was arrested after GJM supporters forcefully stopped production at the Ramam and Rimbick Nippon Hydel power project, 32 km from Darjeeling, demanding immediate supply of food, particularly rice, the sources said.
All shops, markets, schools, colleges, government and private offices, banks, post offices remained closed in the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong in the district with the shut down beginning at 6:00 am.
GJM workers were on the roads in the hills and were seen checking vehicles with emergency stickers on them. All other transport was off the roads.
GJM President Bimal Gurung said his party would talk only to the Centre and it was 'useless' to talk to the West Bengal government.
"The UPA government has announced creation of Telangana overruling opposition from the West Bengal government. Why should not they do it in the case of creating a separate Gorkhaland?" the GJM president asked.
Stating that Gorkhas had sacrificed themselves for the country and that Gorkhaland should be conceded, he said, "There is no use talking to the West Bengal government as it cannot do anything in this regard."
Asked whether the state government would take stringent measures in Darjeeling following violence, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who returned to Kolkata from Mumbai, told reporters,"Already firm decisions have been taken." The panchayat office at Bijanbari was burnt down in the morning, District Magistrate Soumitra Mohan said.
One company of the CRPF, including women personnel, were on patrol on the streets, official sources said.
A report from Kalimpong said, that women GJM members lit a bonfire in the town and shouted slogans demanding Gorkhaland.
GJM youth wing members rolled bare-bodied on the streets in Darjeeling town demanding statehood and withdrawal of CRPF from the hills.
Official sources said that work in tea gardens and cinchona plantations, which were exempted from the purview of the bandh called by the GJM, was unaffected.
Meanwhile, the six-member GJM team led by party general secretary Roshan Giri that reached Delhi contacted several MPs and apprised them of the Gorkhaland statehood demand.
Darjeeling Superintendent of Police Kunal Agarwal said one person was arrested for the torching of a police outpost at Pokhriabong which left a home guard injured on Thursday, taking the total number of arrest in the hills to six.
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