Students who have returned to Pintail. Telegraph picture

Darjeeling/Siliguri, June 16: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha wants North Bengal University to defer its ongoing exams on the ground that they had been put off during bandhs called by the Left Front and the Trinamul Congress early this month.

“Not only that, many of our students are not in a position to go down to Siliguri and sit for the exams,” said D. Giri, a Morcha central committee member.

Over 300 students from the the hills had fled Siliguri following clashes that rocked the town last week.

Almost 100 of them missed the varsity exams on June 12 and 13 because of the 48-hour shutdown called by Amra Bangali, an organisation opposed to the Gorkhaland demand.

Sources said the university was unlikely to reschedule the exams because the shutdown was “indefinite”. The exams are scheduled to end on July 5.

The bandh might also hit students seeking admission to first-year undergraduate courses. The Morcha has exempted “education” from the bandh but students might find it difficult to make it to colleges of their choice, a teacher said.

The last date for admission to NBU colleges is July 16.

Some 30 students of Kalipada Ghosh College, Bagdogra, have taken shelter at Pintail village, a cluster of government guesthouses on the outskirts of Siliguri. Most of them were refused entry into the college by Amra Bangali cadres.

“I’m scared to return to my rented house,” said Romi Rai, a BCom student who came back from his Mirik home today because he has to write six more exams.