Siliguri, May 12: The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad has called a 72-hour strike from May 17. The bandh comes close on the heels of another strike — a two-day shutdown called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha from May 15.
The Parishad strike — in demand for recruitment of Hindi-speaking teachers in the primary schools of the Dooars immediately — has nothing to do with its bete noire, the Morcha.
Besides, the Morcha bandh on May 15 and 16 is limited to the hills. But the back-to-back shutdowns have left the tourism sector and the business community jittery. Added to this is a 24-hour strike called by the Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Banchao Committee on May 14 to protest the decision to form an interim set-up for the hills.
Raj Basu of the Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators’ Association said the nature of the strikes was such that it would affect an entire circuit for six days. “Cancellations of bookings has already begun in Darjeeling but we had managed to shift some tourists to the Dooars. But now that the 72- hour strike has been called in the Dooars, there is hardly any option left for us.”
Biswajit Das, secretary of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, North Bengal, said transport of goods would be affected the most. “It is true that these strikes will affect specific areas at a time but trade is inter-linked — from the plains to the hills to Sikkim.”
About 5,000 supporters of the Parishad arrived at the Sports Complex in Jalpaiguri a little after noon.
“We had written to the district primary school council on May 5 that those who have studied in Bengali medium schools cannot teach students in the Dooars. We need Hindi-speaking teachers,” said John Barla, president of the Dooars-Terai regional unit of the Parishad. “We have called a three-day general strike throughout the Dooars from May 17 to 19.”
With the Parishad members agitating at the Sports Complex, police asked the DPSC officials to meet the protesters. They arrived after three hours at 3.30pm.
Kaushik Roy, the district inspector of schools (primary) of Jalpaiguri, said he would inform the school education department about the Parishad demand.
