Darjeeling/Kurseong, June 18: People in the hills woke up to a cold and wet bandh today and were dogged by long power cuts, erratic communication networks and landslides.

Thirteen houses were damaged in Kurseong and their occupants had to be shifted following landslips triggered by rain, lashing the hills since Monday.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha did not help matters by picketing the relief office in Darjeeling.

“Early in the morning, I sent my men to take stock of the situation. But they were not allowed to enter the office,” said a relief department official who did not want to be named.

By then, a landslip had started in Toongsoong. Told about it, the Morcha supporters did allow some of the workers to enter the office from where tarpaulins and other relief are sent.

Both cellular and Internet services were frequently disrupted and BSNL officials put the blame on the shutdown. “The telephone exchange has been shut because of the indefinite strike. Maintenance work cannot be carried out till the bandh is called off,” said Satyendra Singh, the Darjeeling subdivisional engineer “stuck” in the plains because of the bandh.

The residents of the town were not ready to accept Singh’s explanation. “I don’t know if the BSNL employees are deliberately using the bandh as a pretext to keep the office closed because essential services have been exempted. Or maybe the Morcha has failed to properly communicate the matter to BSNL,” said A. Tamang of Toongsoong.

Telephone lines were down in Kurseong as well.

Strong winds and rain also snapped power lines. Most of Darjeeling town went without electricity for almost 14 hours. Kurseong was without power last night and most of today.

“The power cuts meant we could not even watch TV sitting at home,” said Rajiv Nirola, a Darjeeling resident.

Schools had been left out of the bandh, but the few students who braved the rain and made it to classrooms found teachers missing. Many of them were busy organising a rally in support of Gorkhaland.