Siliguri (West Bengal), July 18 (Inditop.com) The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), spearheading a protest demanding a separate Gorkhaland state, Saturday partly opened the National Highway 31-A, a key route connecting West Bengal and Sikkim.
“We’ve decided to allow only those vehicles which have Sikkim number plates. We allowed all the cars to enter Sikkim. This relaxation would be effective for next five days (till July 23 morning),” GJM assistant general secretary Binoy Tamag said.
The GJM called the indefinite shutdown from July 13 for a separate Gorkhaland. The shutdown has paralysed life in Darjeeling’s three hill sub-divisions.
“Schools, colleges and tea gardens will also open from Monday,” Tamang said.
He said the GJM would reconsider the issue of extending traffic relaxation on the NH-31A only if the union home ministry sends a letter to its leadership assuring that the government would hold talks over the Gorkhaland issue.
The central and state governments are going to have a meeting with the pro-Gorkhaland parties Aug 11.
The GJM announced indefinite shutdown in the hills twice last year and also in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls this year, severely hitting the tea and tourism industries – the bread and butter of the region.
Tripartite talks held last year in New Delhi had failed to break the deadlock.
