Food items being offloaded in Kalimpong on Saturday. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha

June 14: Shops and schools in Siliguri opened today and prohibitory orders were relaxed in the subdivision, which reported no violence.

“The situation is absolutely normal across the subdivision. No untoward incident was reported during the day,” said Smita Pandey, the subdivisional officer (SDO) of Siliguri.

“We have decided to relax Section 144 (of the CrPC, dealing with unlawful assembly) in Bagdogra, Naxalbari and Siliguri,” she said.

“The prohibitory orders have been relaxed from 2pm to 8pm in Siliguri, and from 7am to 7pm in Bagdogra and Naxalbari.”

Pandey said the administration would take a decision tomorrow on withdrawing the prohibitory orders and the central forces that are on standby, but only after consulting the police.

Siliguri resident Ranjit Thapa said: “Seeing the bustle in the town today, it is tough to believe that the situation had turned so violent just a day ago.”

Shops and establishments had been shut in many areas yesterday and both government and private vehicles had stayed off the roads.

From this morning, trucks carried supplies to the hills, where the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has widened its strike relaxation window to 6pm on Monday. The indefinite bandh was to have resumed today.

In Darjeeling, Morcha chief Bimal Gurung said: “We have now given time for the situation to normalise. If there is any violence during this phase (the relaxation time), the government and the CPM will be to blame. Any act of violence during this period will vindicate our stand that the CPM is hell-bent on disrupting law and order in the region.”

The situation in places like Malbazar, Chulsa, Oodlabari and Nagrakata in the Dooars, which had witnessed clashes between Morcha supporters and anti-statehood activists, was normal today.

The Morcha, Gurung said, would allow safe passage to students who have to leave Darjeeling for the plains after schools close for the summer vacation later this month.

“We will set up helplines in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong once the indefinite strike resumes. This helpline will cater to the students,” Gurung said.

The Morcha has decided to convene a meeting of all hill parties as soon as it can.

In the plains, an emergency helpline cell has started operating from the Siliguri SDO’s office to allow people to easily and instantly inform the police about any untoward incident.

The cell is made up by a police team led by an official of inspector rank, and is working under a magistrate, SDO Pandey said.

A resident can alert the police by calling 0353-2430800 and 0353-2525213 between 8am and 8pm, she said. For the remaining 12 hours, they have to call at the usual police numbers.

The cell will also maintain law and order in the compound of the SDO’s office, where courts and some other offices are located, especially during demonstrations and rallies.

Business representatives were happy at the calm in Siliguri today.

“Repeated closure of markets and deterioration of law and order would affect the economy of the region,” said Biswajit Das, general secretary of the Federation of the Chambers of Commerce and Industries, north Bengal.

Madan Tamang, the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League leader, visited the trouble-prone areas in Siliguri and its neighbourhood. He spoke to people who were allegedly attacked or had their homes ransacked.

“Many of them have filed police complaints following assault and ransacking. I am collecting the details and will take the matter up with the police,” he said.