Members of Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Bachao Committee block a passenger train at Hamiltangunj Station on Thursday. (Anirban Choudhury)

Siliguri, Feb. 12: Much to the relief of the transport operators and vehicles owners of the region, Darjeeling district in particular, Calcutta High Court has instructed the government to open a camp here for collection of revenue accrued in the transport sector.

The decision follows a suit filed by Mrinal Kanti Sarkar, a transport operator from Siliguri. Sarkar had in his petition said because of the embargo on revenue collection, imposed by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha across the hills, transporters could not pay revenue to renew documents or obtain the mandatory papers to run vehicles on road.

The Regional Transport Authority (RTA) office in Darjeeling had come to a halt because of the Morcha’s non-cooperation movement, leaving thousands of people — who could not procure fitness certificates and route permits or renew driving licenses and register new vehicles and change ownership — in the lurch.

The impasse and pressure from the transporters had also prompted the district administration to write to the government in October. In the letter, the Darjeeling district magistrate Surendra Gupta, had sought instructions on how to solve the problem. It was decided then that the office would be open at a rented house or on the SDO office premises in Siliguri. However, there were no further developments.

Hearing the case, Justice Jayanta Kumar Biswas ordered the government yesterday to open the centre within two weeks and it would be functional for at least the next six months. Counsels representing the government informed the court that a decision had already been taken and the camp would be opened in Siliguri soon.

“The Morcha leaders had taken an irresponsible decision, leaving no option for transporters and vehicle owners, but to run thousands of vehicles without valid papers for the past seven-eight months,” Ajoy Chakraborty, the president of the Citu-affiliated Darjeeling District Taxi and Private Car Drivers’ Association, said. “It is good that the government has come forward to help us, otherwise the owners and drivers may have faced legal action in other districts or states for plying vehicles without valid documents.”

The Siliguri Taxi Owners’ Association, which runs 700-800 vehicles to the hills everyday, said inconvenience had been mentioned to leaders of the All Transport Joint Action Committee, a Morcha affiliate, at a meeting in October last year. “They were not bothered and had said it was part of their non-cooperation movement,” an association member said.

Norbu Lama, the president of the Joint Action Committee, said, the decision would be opposed. “We will sit with our members from all the three hill sub-divisions tomorrow and decide our future course of action,” he said. “If necessary, we can go for chakka jam or even hunger strike.”