Trouble in the Tea Gardens

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The lifeline to Sikkim and Darjeeling district, NH-31, was bought to a standstill by Gorkha Janamukti Morcha activists. I travelled along the highway to get you these pictures. The situation is quite bad so tourists are advised to stay away.

Getting out of Rangpo and making it to Siliguri requires "connections" now, the West Bengal police escort for Sikkim convoys are only marginally effective.

My move out in an attempt to understand the ground situation took a call to the head of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Bimal Gurung last evening.

GJMM activists blocking NH-31A

This morning, two boys turned up at Sikkim Rangpo to escort me into GJM controlled NH-31A.

They prepared "papers" signed by the GJM convenor Lokesh Chettri who manned the first picket at Rangpo.

Meanwhile, also at Rangpo, an earnest effort was being made by the Sikkim Police to get at least those with valid travel tickets out of Darjeeling district, assured safe passage to Siliguri.

Rangpo does not find mention as a tourist destination, but was packed with tourists today; each one desperate to get out. Some MBBS students said they were even prepared to walk the more than 70 kms to Siliguri should the police ensured their safety.

What was unfortunate was the complete absence of West Bengal police all along NH 31A.

People travelling with whatever they can lay hands on

Some, who were on duty, tried to evade my camera; a complete contrast to the GJM workers who posed willingly at their little pickets marking every settlement right up to Kalijhora, till where their sway holds.

Every little village along the way had mostly young boys playing highway controllers, bandh enforcers.

The absence of policemen contributed to a strong sense of lawlessness.

A picket on NH-31A

We started early and met six pickets along the way - at West Bengal Rangpo, Melli, Teesta, Lohapul, Rambi and Kalijhora. Those at Rangpo were the most organised. We ran into them at 7 AM in the morning. With the letter issued by the GJM convener at Rangpo, we met with little resistance.

All along the way we saw people walking, shouldering bags in desperation to get out. Some tourists were having trouble with their luggage at Taar Khola.

GJNMM activists checking papers of desperate tourists before allowing them to travel along NH-31A

Short of Rambi, trucks and jeeps loaded with goods awaiting clearance to complete their journey to Sikkim. They were still there when I returned late this evening.

At the last picket at Kalijhora, the young men were visibly agitated with the lack of coverage of their issue by the mainstream media.

Tourists walking 70 km along NH-31A upto Siliguri (L) and vehicles with essential commodities stranded for two days

They demanded to know why the national television news channels were not giving any, or scant, coverage to the issue.

From that point on the drive was a breeze into Siliguri. Complete chaos greeted us at the SNT complex at Siliguri.

There were too many people stranded and awaiting the West Bengal Police escort promised to accompany them back home. Some people had been stuck there for over two days.

Stranded at Siliguri

There was complete lack of information and this was fuelling rumours. One story going around was that a car was burnt (not true).

The other said that the tourist convoy escorted by the police was stopped by the GJM workers at Rangpo itself.

It is true that many cars were turned back, but those desperate were able to reach Siliguri in batches of about eight cars only by 3:30 PM.

The return to Sikkim was more tense.

While the expected hotspots of Kalijhora and Rambi respected the Press sticker and let us through, there were hostile crowds at Teesta and Melli. In fact at Teesta, the bandh enforcers got into an argument among themselves - one group wanting our vehicles to be allowed through while the other against the idea.

You are reading this, so it's obvious how that argument ended. But we could leave the Teesta Bazaar picket behind us only after sitting through a passionate diatribe by GJM leader Sukbir Lama arguing for their issue to be covered more aggressively by the national media.

Melli, which was uneventful when we passed it in the morning, was intensely hostile when we pulled in the evening. Several young men crowded the road and refused to respect the letter issued by their leaders.

A voice shouted that they have had enough of the media and another demanded that the vehicle be set alight.

There were too many voices and apparently no leadership and obviously hence, the situation very tense. A call to the GJM boss in Darjeeling saved the day and we were allowed through.

While all this happened, the West Bengal police personnel there just watched. Once out of Melli, there was little resistance. The GJM workers at Rangpo just took back the letter of passage and let us through.

At Rangpo, the Sikkim Police were still trying to organise tourists into groups to be escorted out. Lack of vehicles compounded their problems. No one (understandably) wants to go to Siliguri.