Siliguri: Pro and anti-Gorkhaland forces have called for consecutive bandhs for three days in Darjeeling district following the deadlock over the recent tripartite talks.
Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Samiti, an anti-Gorkhaland organisation, called a 24-hour West Bengal bandh on Friday in protest against the government holding talks with the GJM .
On the other hand, Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) has called a 48-hour bandh from Saturday in their proposed territory which includes Siliguri and a part of Dooars.
The party was demanding political-level talks to demarcate the territory of their proposed interim authority.
These bandhs come even as the indefinite office bandh in Darjeeling hills entered the fourth day on Wednesday.
Official-level talks have failed to make a headway on May 11 owing to GJM's insistence on discussing the territorial jurisdiction of the proposed interim authority.
West Bengal Home Secretary Samar Ghosh, who represented the state at the meeting, yesterday said the state government wanted the interim authority to be set up first before determining its territorial jurisdiction.
Another round of tripartite political-level talk would be held later and its date and venue would be decided by the Centre, Ghosh said.
However, parties like Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) and Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) and anti-Gorkhaland bodies like the Samiti and Adibasi Vikash Parisad demanded their inclusions in the talks.
Offices of the district magistrate, SDOs, BDOs and the DGHC remained closed, and no government vehicle, barring the DM's and the SP's, were allowed to ply in hills as part of the GJM's office bandh call.
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