Security beefed up in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik in the Darjeeling hills

Security strengthened in Darjeeling

Security has been beefed up in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik in the Darjeeling hills to check any relapse of violence following recommendation of the expert committee on inclusion of new areas in the proposed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

Personnel of the Rapid Action Force, Indian Reserve Battalion and state police are patrolling the streets in the three areas, Kunal Agarwal, Additional Superintendent of Police, told reporters here.

He said that additional forces had arrived from Malda and Jalpaiguri districts to maintain peace in the hills during the peak tourist season. 

Amid fears that the hills might again slip back to unrest, specially after GJM general secretary Roshan Giri's rejection of the recommendation of inclusion of five mouzas into the GTA as compared to the GJM's demand of 398 mouzas, tourists have been leaving the hills.

A resident of New Delhi, DK Verma, who came to visit Darjeeling with two families, said, "We're leaving today as we fear repeat of our bad experience a couple of years back when a sudden strike left us stranded.

Members of the hoteliers' association, meanwhile, deny that tourists were leaving.

"Nearly 30,000 tourists have been visiting Darjeeling on a daily basis. All rooms in the hotels have been booked till June 20," Nima Tsering Bhutia, member of the Darjeeling Hotelier's Association, said.

GJM leaders are meeting at Patlebas in Darjeeling to chalk out their future course of action after the Justice (retd) Shyamal Kumar Sen-headed commission's recommendation was made public yesterday.

Source: business-standard.com/