Members of the Gorkhaland Personnel queue up for meal at Kumani on Monday. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha

Kumani More, Jan. 24: The march remains thwarted for the time being but that has done little to dampen the spirit of the thousand or so Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters as they stand eyeball-to-eyeball with police on the culvert that separates Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts.

Cries of “we want Gorkhaland” and “Terai and Dooars hamroi ho (The Terai and the Dooars are ours) fall silent in the Kumani forest village only after the sun goes down when the slogan-shouting Morcha supporters at the barricade are replaced by members of the Yuva Morcha, the party’s youth wing. “We come here (barricade) daily, carrying torches and stay till the morning when our supporters begin to arrive,” said Pasang Lama, a member of the youth wing. The Morcha camp where Lama stays is half a kilometre from the barricade.

Morcha supporters on a dharna at Metro Channel in Calcutta on Monday. Picture by Anindya Shankar Ray

The Morcha members stream in from neighbouring villages like Kumai, Gairibas, Johlung, Jaldhaka, Samsing and Gorubathan.

“We have about 40 vehicles to ferry the supporters, and drop them at their respective villages later,” said Rohit Chhetri, a driver.

An ambulance is also on standby to attend to any medical emergency. However, there has been no major health hazard so far. “I am least concerned about my health. We are all here for our land,” said Binita Rai, a petite young girl from Gorubathan in between shouting slogans in front of the barricade, 70km from Jalpaiguri town and on the fringes of the Dooars where the marchers dropped anchor on Tuesday. The Morcha padayatra or the “long march for Gorkhaland” had started from Gorubathan in Kalimpong subdivision with the intention to enter the Dooars and reach Jaigaon. But the Jalpaiguri district administration imposed Section 144 on the Dooars on Monday, which is still in force.

Inspector-general of north Bengal Ranbir Kumar and Darjeeling police chief D.P. Singh visited the other side of the barricade today.

A short distance from the bridge — where the crowd was urging the Morcha chief to march ahead with cries of “Bimal timi agee bara, hami timro saath chu (Bimal you march ahead, we are with you) — was housed the man himself. Morcha president Bimal Gurung has put up in a rickety wooden structure on the campus of the Kumani forest beat office. He emerged occasionally to talk to party supporters.

“He did not go to Delhi for tomorrow’s talks,” said Kamal Giri, a local Morcha leader. Gurung has been staying in the log house since the time he arrived here on January 19.

Around 1.30pm, members of the Gorkhaland Personnel queued up in front of the kitchen with paper plates for their meal of rice, dal and a curry of potato and cauliflower. “We prepare meat only on some occasions. We require 300kg of rice, 20kg of dal, and a sack full of potatoes and another full of cauliflower and a tin (15litres) of cooking oil among others every day,” said Janak Lama, the head cook.

In the adjacent room, a 12-member team of GLP women was finishing their meals. The room, they said, was being used as a kitchen for the Morcha president. “We prepare the food for Sir (read Gurung) as well as being part of his security. We don’t serve him food without first trying them ourselves,” said Khusboo Adhikary, the group captain.

Morcha leaders said there was enough stock to last the 600-odd Morcha padayatris, including 250 GLP volunteers, for over a month. “The vegetables are brought by supporters from the neighbouring villages every time they come to attend the sit-in protest in front of the police barricade,” said Naresh Nath Pradhan, a Morcha leader from Darjeeling.

The GLP volunteers have pitched about 30 tents on the forest campus for their stay. “We are here to ensure discipline and provide security to the party supporters,” said Arun Sharma, a GLP instructor. Some of the marchers have also put up with the local people.

Asked how they were coping with the problems of water and sanitation, he quipped: “These are small problems. We are coping with them knowing we are doing it for our land.”