Life normal in Dooars, Darjeeling remains paralysed

Life in the Darjeeling Hills was today crippled for the fifth day of the
agitation for separate Gorkhaland, but vehicles plied normally in the Dooars foothills after the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) called off its indefinite bandh in the plains.
       
Tension prevailed in Kurseong of the Darjeeling Hills as the body of Nita Khawas (22), who died of bullet wounds at a Siliguri hospital yesterday after getting injured at Sikchu police firing on February 8, was taken out by GJM and cremated at Sitai, official sources said.
   
Besides Kurseong, where very few people other than Morcha supporters ventured out, life remained paralysed in Mirik, Kalimpong, Darjeeling town and elsewhere in the hillswith all shops downing shutters and  passenger vehicles staying off the road, the sources said.
   
Life was, meanwhile, normal in all pockets of Dooars in Jalpaiguri district, including Bagrakot, Banarhat, Jaldhaka, Chalsa, Meteli where the GJM-sponsored bandh had evoked some response in the past four days, they said.   

All shops and markets were open in the Dooars as vehicles plied normally.
   
In the hills, the relay hunger strike and other forms of agitations by the GJM, called in support of the demand for Gorkhaland and CBI inquiry into the February 8 police firing at Sipchu causing the death of three Morcha supporters, went on.
   
The GJM had lifted its indefinite strike in Dooars and postponed the padayatra in the plains after a meeting with Centre's interlocutor Vijay Madan yesterday.