Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Monday ruled out considering the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state, even as the hill areas of the state shut down in response to a call by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) and the outfit's chief warned people to stock up on essential supplies for 45 days.
The demand for Gorkhaland may be raised in the all-party meeting on the Darjeeling issue scheduled on Tuesday, but West Bengal government will not consider the demand, Bhattacharjee said on Monday evening.
"We are open to all possible negotiations with other parties and GJM to restore peace and democratic atmosphere in Darjeeling district. If any party wants Gorkhaland, it can place the demand at the meeting on Tuesday. But we will not consider it," the Chief Minister said.
"We are always ready to help GJM with other issues of the hills apart from Gorkhaland," Bhattacharjee added.
Meanwhile, the indefinite shutdown called by the GJM, fighting for a separate Gorkhaland state in northern West Bengal, began with a call from the party chief that people should stock up on food and essential supplies for the next month.
"The shutdown has started. Our workers are picketing several roads," GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told IANS over phone.
Tea gardens, cinchona plantations and school and college examinations have been kept outside the purview of the shutdown that started at 1800 hours IST on Monday in the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling district – Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong.
Giri said GJM president Bimal Gurung has asked the people in the hills to stock up food and essential supplies "but that does not mean that we are calling a 45-day shutdown. Ours is an indefinite agitation."
GJM has exempted the plains of the district – Silguri, Dooars and Terai – from the shutdown, but a conflict seemed to be brewing between the party and the administration over the GJM's decision to conduct relay hunger strikes in these areas.
"The administration is trying to scuttle the hunger strike by banning assembly of more than four people in parts of Siliguri and Dooars. We will not be cowed down by these moves," Giri said.
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Siliguri sub-divisional officer Smita Pandey said with the prohibitory orders in force in three police station areas in and around Siliguri, "nobody will be allowed to participate in hunger strike".
Earlier in the day, people rushed to stock up on supplies and trucks snaked up the hills to carry essentials in readiness for the shutdown.
As long queues formed outside shops, the GJM, which on Sunday renewed the call for an indefinite shutdown, also stepped up calls for the resignation of state Urban Development Minister Ashok Bhattacharya.
The GJM president called Bhattacharya the mastermind behind the attacks on pro-Gorkhaland activists on June 8 at Siliguri and the Dooars and stepped up calls for his arrest.
"The CPI-M men beat up our supporters and ransacked their homes. And they also instigated some Bengali-speaking outfits to attack our workers. We called the shutdown not only to press for a separate Gorkhaland state, but also to force the administration to arrest Bhattacharya and others involved in such atrocities," Gurung told IANS from Darjeeling.
Gurung said he would lead a delegation of his party's senior central committee members to New Delhi in the last week of June to brief top national leaders, including those from the main Opposition parties, on their demand for Gorkhaland.
Meanwhile, senior police officers held a meeting in Darjeeling to discuss security arrangements and ways to prevent any breach of peace during the agitation.
"We are monitoring the situation closely. We don't think there is any need to deploy the Central Reserve Police Force in the hills now," said Inspector General of Police (North Bengal) Kundan Lal Tamta.
The GJM had last week called for the indefinite shutdown in the hills, but given a 60-hour relaxation on Wednesday to enable thousands of stranded tourists reach the plains.
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