The vice-chancellor of Sikkim Central University, Mahendra P. Lama, with Morcha protesters in Dagapur. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta, Feb 25: Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi has appealed to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to withdraw the indefinite bandh in the hills and respond to the chief minister’s invitation for talks.

“I have (been) following the recent crisis in Darjeeling district closely. The fast…has caused me great concern,” said a statement read out by Dhruva Basu, the press secretary of the governor.

Earlier in the day, Subash Ghisingh, the caretaker administrator of the DGHC, met Gandhi and told him that the government should take necessary steps to restore normality in the hills, especially when the local economy has been affected by the “destructive agitation” of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

“It is my duty to tell you that the council has been crippled by a destructive agitation. I want the state to make arrangements to ensure normality,” a Raj Bhavan source quoted Ghisingh as saying.

The GNLF chief claimed that he could have returned to Darjeeling had he wanted to, “but trouble might have erupted because of that”.

“So, I decided to come down to Calcutta.’’

Asked if Ghisingh told the governor about deployment of central forces in the hills, the Raj Bhavan official said: “It is not for Ghisingh but the state to decide.”

Gandhi has told Ghisingh that he will convey whatever transpired at today’s meeting to the chief minister. The GNLF chief also explained the immediate need to get the Sixth Schedule bill passed as that will pave the way for election to the new hill council. He claimed that the parliamentary committee scrutinising the bill had met on February 18 and 19 and discussed the draft on a positive note.

Home secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray said at Writers’ Buildings today that no meeting with the GNLF chief is on the cards.