Darjeeling, Aug. 10: A 12-hour hills shutdown on August 22 and a tea garden strike tomorrow threatens to upset tourists’ plans.

The August 22 bandh has been called by the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM). The shutdown is expected to be total, with vehicles off the roads and shops shut for the full 12 hours.

The bandh has been called to mark “betrayal day”. On this day in 1988, Subash Ghisingh had signed the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council accord, “which sealed the fate of the hills’ demand for statehood”, said CPRM spokesperson D.S. Bomzom.

“We have decided to mark ‘betrayal day’ with a general strike. The strike has been called also in support of Gorkhaland,” he added.

The CPRM also wants a speedy trial for Chattrey Subba, accused of plotting the assassination bid on Ghisingh in February 2001.

Subba has been lodged in the Jalpaiguri district correctional home since 2001.

“It is unjust to lock someone up for seven years without completing the trial,” Bomzom said.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has called tomorrow’s tea garden strike over workers’ wages.

The Morcha, which had earlier said it would keep the region strike-free for Pujas, today stressed that the protest would not spill out of the gardens.

But the Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union, the Morcha affiliate at the forefront of the strike, has lined up an agitation.

“We will start a 24-hour relay hunger strike in the gardens from August 13 after which a fast unto death will begin from August 16,” said Suraj Subba, the general secretary of the union. “The agitation will not spill out of the gardens.”

The Morcha had assured the Darjeeling Gorkha Hotel Owners’ Association as well as the government that it would not “disturb” the festival season tourist traffic.