ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Darjeeling bandh against GNLF hits holiday-makers

Thousands of holiday makers were stranded following a 12-hour bandh today in the three hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong called by the six-party opposition combine.

The bandh was in demand for a high-level inquiry into alleged corruption in the Gorkha National Liberation Front-led Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, alleged anti-national activities of the GNLF and the deteriorating law and order situation in the hills. The breakaway Hill Marxists, the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist, the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (the hill unit of the BJP), the Trinamul Congress, the Rashtriya Congress and the recently-floated Bharatiya Gorkha Jana Shakti had given the bandh call.

The tiny Himalayan state of Sikkim also remained cut off from the rest of the country following the bandh. The bandh also coincided with the 'Bangla bandh' called by the Trinamul Congress in the rest of the state.

Police sources said all shops, business establishments and banks in the three hill sub-divisions remained closed and vehicles were off the roads. Schools and educational institutions had declared a holiday and only those having examinations opened for the day.

While most central and state government offices were open, attendance remained thin.

Normal work was, however, reported at the 76-odd tea gardens and a dozen Cinchonna plantations in the hills.

The summer holiday crowd, stranded due to the bandh, could be seen wandering aimlessly in the hill towns.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report