The two vehicles that were seized by police on New Jalpaiguri station premises on Friday for sporting “GL” number plates. The drivers have been arrested. Telegraph pictures

Siliguri, Oct. 10: Taxi service from New Jalpaiguri station to Darjeeling and Kurseong came to a halt from this morning after some drivers were beaten up at Dilaram by a group of youths who insisted that the vehicles should sport “GL” number plates.

Dilaram is 7km from Kurseong. Although four persons were arrested for yesterday’s assault, the New Jalpaiguri unit of the Darjeeling district Taxi and Private Car Drivers’ Union has decided not to ply vehicles till its members are given protection by the administration.

However, taxis affiliated to the Central Bus Stand union will ply to the two hill stations from the pre-paid booth on Hill Cart Road. “We have not stopped our service as our drivers did not face any problem,” said Anup Saha, who runs the booth.

The NJP unit has 60-70 taxis under it, while the Central Bus Stand has around 15. The drivers’ unions of both the units are affiliated to the Citu.

The taxi fare from the Bus Stand to the hills is the same as that from NJP station. However, train passengers availing taxis from the pre-paid booth will have to reach there — a distance of 8km from the station — by rickshaw for Rs 20 or by auto-rickshaw for Rs 8.

Badal Roy, Jagannath Roy and at least four other drivers, whose taxis are based at NJP were returning from Darjeeling with tourists on their way to catch trains, when their vehicles were stopped at Dilaram on NH55 around 3.30pm. The national highway connects the hill town to Siliguri,

“The youths asked the drivers why they were plying their vehicles without ‘GL’ number plates,” said Uday Saha, the secretary of the NJP unit of the union. “They even asked them why they were not wearing Nepali topis.”

Six of the drivers were beaten up. Badal Roy had to be admitted to North Bengal Medical College Hospital with a broken nose and a bleeding injury on the right side of his head. Jagannath was admitted to the Siliguri district hospital from where he was discharged this afternoon.

The drivers, whose complaints were not accepted at the police outpost at Dilaram, lodged an FIR at the NJP outpost on their return to Siliguri. “We received the FIR and have taken up the issue with our seniors,” said Pankaj Thapa, the officer-in-charge of the NJP outpost. Later in the evening, district police chief Rahul Srivastava said four persons had been arrested.

A memorandum had been submitted to the additional superintendent of police, Siliguri, and the subdivisional officer by the drivers’ union, urging immediate steps to provide protection to the drivers. “We will not flout the motor vehicles act by putting on ‘GL’ number plates. Besides, there will be no insurance coverage — neither for the passengers nor for the vehicle — if anything happens to vehicles while using ‘GL’ plates,” said Saha. “We have decided not to ply taxis to Darjeeling till we get some sort of protection.”

Saha said the traffic flow to Darjeeling during the four days of Puja was about 40 to 50 per cent less compared to last year. “On an average, about 50 vehicles left NJP for Darjeeling every day during Puja. But that too stopped today.”

Morcha leaders said the youths at Dilaram were not party functionaries. “They were local youths, probably inebriated, who created the trouble,” said a Morcha leader from Darjeeling.

A few vehicles, ply on a different route, left NJP for Kalimpong today.

The confusion over the use of number plates, however, continued in the afternoon. Two vehicles with “GL” plates were seized at NJP station. “One was a Wagon R and the other a Tavera,” said Thapa.

“The vehicles had ‘WB’ plates in front and ‘GL’ in the rear,” the officer said. The drivers of these vehicles have been arrested.

Local drivers had spotted the anomaly when the vehicles arrived from Darjeeling with passengers for various trains. Tyres of another vehicle were deflated when a driver from the hills entered into an argument with another.