The fragile peace in the Dooars is once again in danger with Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) threatening to enter the area to hold a rally despite prohibitory orders.

Slamming Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for “not keeping his word” given at the meeting in Kolkata on January 20, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said the Morcha would go on a “fast-unto-death” in front of Garubathan police station from January 29 — the day the CM has invited a delegation of Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad (ABAVP) leaders to Kolkata for a meeting to resolve the stand-off in the Dooars.

Senior GJM leaders, including the outfit’s president Bimal Gurung, are camping in Garubathan on the Darjeeling-Jalpaguri border in a bid to enter the Dooars, where prohibitory orders were issued on January 15, a day before the Gorkha-tribal clashes rocked the area, Special IG (Jalpaiguri Range) Zulfiqar Hasan said. “At the moment, we do not see it fit to lift the prohibitory orders. Three companies of the Seema Suraksha Bal continue to patrol the area,” Hasan said.

The GJM has shot off a letter to the CM listing its demands. “No step has been taken to free our activists from prisons in Jalpaiguri and compensating those whose property was damaged in the riots. None of the persons we named for attacking our rally have been arrested. We have faxed a letter to the CM saying we would sit on a fast-unto-death. Copies have also been sent to the Bengal Governor, President of India and the Union Home Minister,” Giri said.

“We have demanded safety and security of life and property of our people in the Dooars, reopening of 13 closed tea gardens, to allow rallies and the release of all our people from Jalpaiguri jails,” Giri said.

Meanwhile, after remaining closed for 20 days, government offices in Darjeeling district reopened today after the GJM relaxed its enforced shutdown. Giri said the offices would remain open till February 7.

District magistrate Surendra Gupta said work had piled up during the long period of bandh. “We’ll concentrate on clearing files. The people were affected by the shutdown as documents like Sikkim permits, caste certificates for students, domicile certificates could not be issued,” Gupta said.

On Sunday, state Urban Development Minister Asok Bhattacharya had accused the GJM of trying to paralyse development in the Hills and to bring lawlessness in the Terai-Dooars region. “The Morcha’s decision to collect revenue out of the tea produced in the Darjeeling Hills amounted to an audacious challenge to the constitutional right of the state government. If acted upon, it would play havoc with the already dwindling tea industry in the region,” he had said.