Incidents of loot, arson on the rise in Darjeeling

With the strike fatigue gradually setting in and normal life remaining paralysed in the Darjeeling hills, incidents of loot and arson are on the rise.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) spearheaded indefinite shut down entered its 49th day on Wednesday.

Pro-Gorkhaland supporters set ablaze a van carrying foodstuff near Darjeeling Railway Station around midnight on Tuesday, while masked criminals looted a vehicle near Ghoom carrying items for the last rites of a person in the hills.

Identified as GPL

Local residents said the masked criminals had first identified themselves as Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP), a vigilante group of the GJM, and then looted the vehicle near Ghoom.

The driver of the vehicle charged that police officers at Jorebungalow Police Station refused to register his complaint.

A panchayat office in Bijanbari was ransacked on Wednesday, reportedly by GJM agitators. Furnitures were damaged, but the mob could not set the building on fire, the police said.

‘No GPL’

A senior GJM leader refused to accept that the GLP was involved in Tuesday’s incident at Ghoom.

“No GLP was involved in any incident of attack or loot. Some miscreants are taking this opportunity to loot people in the name of the movement. We suspect they might receive support from anti-Gorkhaland outfits. We are keeping a close watch,” the GJM functionary said.

He, however, remained silent on the ransacking of the panchayat office in Bijanbari and setting the vehicle carrying foodstuff on fire near Darjeeling station.

Normal life remained crippled in the hills due to the indefinite strike. Barring medicine shops, all other business establishments, restaurants, hotels, schools and colleges remained closed.
DH News Service