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Siliguri, West Bengal: People poured onto the streets of Darjeeling yesterday as shops and offices opened and trucks carrying essential supplies started the journey from Siliguri following the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha's (GJM) decision to relax its indefinite shutdown for 60 hours.
In the three hill sub-divisions - Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong - people were seen in large numbers at markets and offices after the GJM, agitating for a separate Gorkhaland state, relaxed the shutdown from 6pm on Sunday until 6am tomorrow.
Trucks lugging food and vegetables, besides LPG cylinders and other essential items, lumbered along the National Highway 55 connecting Siliguri with Darjeeling. Jeeps, taxis and bus services were also seen buzzing between the plains and the hills.
The National Highway 31 A that connects Sikkim with Siliguri was also abuzz. The hill state was virtually cut off from the outside world after the highway was blocked.
Meanwhile, a four-member GJM team led by party general secretary Roshan Giri, was slated to leave for New Delhi as another delegation was to proceed to Kolkata. GJM press and publicity secretary Benoy Tamang, however, denied there was any shift in the GJM's stand. "We are not going to Kolkata to hold any formal talks with him [West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee] to resolve the Gorkhaland issue. We will only apprise him of the situation in the hills and request him to arrange for a tri-partite meeting."
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