The GJM had asked the people of Darjeeling to stop paying all taxes and other revenues from Thursday. “The situation in the hills is grim. Often water and electric supplies are being snapped. Transport is also severely affected. It is risky for the people to visit the hills,” said Minister for Urban Development Ashok Bhattacharya.

Home Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti also said that the situation in Darjeeling is not conducive for tourism.

“Divisional Commissioner B L Meena of Jalpaiguri division, will talk to GJM on Thursday,” he added. This will, however, heavily affect the economy of the hills as tourism is the mainstay of the area.

GJM activists will also sit for an indefinite hungerstrike in protest against the state government’s refusal to give GJM permission to hold a rally at Siliguri on April 27. Bhattacharya said GJM has designs to create disturbances at Siliguri and the government will not allow it.

“They wanted to hold a rally at Siliguri only to create disturbances. The GJM is hell bent on causing disturbances in the area. Due to this, all development works at Siliguri are in jeopardy,” he said.