Siliguri, June 22: The Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Banchao Committee has called a 24-hour state-wide strike on July 18, the day the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration agreement was signed last year, to protest the pact and demand that no new territory should be included in it.

“We have been protesting the idea of giving autonomy to the hills and we consider it as the first step towards another partition of Bengal. Our demand is the bifurcation of Darjeeling district and the formation of zilla parishad in the hills to take care of the aspirations of the Gorkha population. We have decided to observe a 24-hour general strike across the state to protest the GTA (agreement),” Mukunda Majumdar, the president of the Bhasha committee, said today.

“The strike will be observed on July 18, the same day on which the state government had signed the GTA agreement with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha last year and initiated the process of the division of the state,” he added.