GJM under pressure from outside and within to be ‘flexible’ on bandh

DARJEELING: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) is facing increasing pressure from within and outside the outfit to take a “more flexible view” on its indefinite bandh and go for “some sort of relaxation” before Eid, which comes up next week.
The biggest worry for the Hills now is the fast-depleting food stock. Refusal by ambulance operators to carry patients to Siliguri because of “harassment” by bandh supporters has also marked aflash point.The outside pressure came in the form of a Bengal government warning to government employees about a possible “repercussion” in the month-end salary slip for not attending office.
The GJM, in a tacit admission that a prolonged bandh might inconvenience its core support base more than the government, sent a delegation to Gangtok on Wednesday to meet Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, urging central intervention. Wednesday’s immediate pressure point was the ambulance operators’ refusal to ferry patients.
Drivers complained picketers were insisting on checking hospital documents and patients’ luggage and even food items. “They (picketers) checkluggage, inspect vehicle documents and intimidate us if we carry a few food items.They don’t understand that every minute matters when it comes to patients requiring emergency attention. We appeal to the protesters to stop harassing us,” ambulance driver Yogen Rai said. Rai had a patient to ferry to Siliguri but was worried about the “check points” in Kurseong and Sonada.
The district hospital in Darjeeling has only two ambulances to cater to the huge number of patients who are more often than not referred to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri. This forces patients to depend on private vehicles, which double up as ambulances.
The bandh has also started pinching homemakers. Ration from the plains haven’t been reaching the Hills for more than a week.