KOLKATA: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) chief Bimal Gurung on Wednesday threatened to halt the ongoing hydel projects in north Bengal to press for Gorkhaland statehood.
“We will do everything it takes to achieve Gorkhaland. This will include halting the ongoing hydel projects on Teesta river. This is our non-cooperation movement against the West Bengal government and Gorkha workers in government offices are also skipping work as they are also part of the Gorkhaland statehood agitation,” Gurung said.
He also asked the tourists to stay away from the hills for some time. “Our homeland is not only for tourism. We as human beings also exist in these hills. I urge the tourists not to visit the hills now as the situation is very tense,” he added. On the other hand, tourism minister Goutam Deb said that disrupting tourism during its peak period in the hills would not be tolerated.
Meanwhile, state police forces led by new Darjeeling superintendent of police Akhilesh Chaturvedi surrounded Kanchanjunga School in Darjeeling during meeting of youth GJM activists to decide the course of action for Gorkhaland statehood agitation. However, none of the sides showed any signs of violence while police surrounded the venue of the agitation. Neither GJM activists resorted to stone-pelting as witnessed earlier nor the police forces took an aggressive posture to deal with GJM, which was witnessed on Tuesday.
On the other hand, after deputing three IPS officers acquainted with the realities of the Darjeeling hills to control the law and order situation in the hills, Mamata Banerjee appointed an officer of North Bengal Development Board to a top post in Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) on Wednesday. She also sent a report to the Central government on the situation in the hills. The report was summoned by home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday.