Siliguri markets lose ₹2cr a day as hills observe bandh
The biggest casualty of the bandh in Darjeeling, which entered its 34th day on Tuesday, is not just peace in the hills.
Siliguri, the nearest town in the plains and also the biggest business hub in the region, is incurring a loss of about ₹2 crore in retail and wholesale trade every day.
With more than 70 % of Siliguri’s business dependant on Darjeeling and the state of Sikkim, most of the local traders are suffering. According to Siliguri Merchants’ Association (SMA), Siliguri Hardware Merchants’ Association (SHMA) and Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry, North Bengal (FOCIN), the indefinite bandh has made a deep dent already.
“The complete shutdown in the Darjeeling hills has crippled business here. If this continues, everything will collapse,” Biswajit Das, general secretary of FOCIN, told HT.
In 2016-2017, value-added tax (VAT) collected from Siliguri touched ₹700 crore, said Das. “That comes to something around ₹1.917 crore a day. So, in last 33 days, the government has already lost ₹63.261 crore towards revenue,” argued Das.
Commuters too have started feeling the effect of the bandh being held in the hills. Notorious for traffic snarls, Siliguri is witnessing fewer vehicles and peo- ple these days.
“We have no work and are sitting idle for more than a month,” said Hiralal Agarwal, the SHMA president. Around 75 % of the iron and construction hardware business comes from Sikkim and Darjeeling. The sector clocks a business of ₹50 crore in normal times, he said.
Sikkim is connected to Siliguri by NH-10 but the local administration is allegedly not allowing too many trucks to carry food items and other essentials to Sikkim. Trucks going to Sikkim are regularly checked on one pretext or the other, the Pawan Chamling government has alleged.
Gauri Goyal, general secretary of SMA, claimed that the bandh has reduced the food material business in Siliguri by as much as 70 %. From rice and wheat to lentil and edible oil, practically everything consumed by people in the hills and Sikkim are shipped from Siliguri. The main wholesale market is situated at Khalpara. On a normal days, more than 100 trucks ferry food items from here. “But now only a few trucks are going to Sikkim. We are losing business worth Rs 15 crore a day,” claimed Goyal.
He said the bandh has affected around 10,000 wage labourers and 500 rickshaw van pullers who depend on daily trade for their livelihood. A senior official at Siliguri Regulated Market Committee claimed that the vegetable and fish markets have witnessed a daily shortfall in sale.
“In normal times, at least 60 trucks loaded with vegetable come to the regulated markets from various places. Out of these, around 40 are sent to Darjeeling and Sikkim,” said Goyal.
Fresh violence broke out in Mirik area of Darjeeling hills, with pro-Gorkhaland supporters clashing with police and setting on fire two security vehicles and an outpost, police said on Tuesday.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) alleged that its supporter Ashok Tamang was killed and another person injured in the trouble on Monday night.
The GJM alleged that the police opened fire on pro-Gorkhaland activists in Mirik area. However, the police denied doing so.
Trouble erupted in Mirik subdivision when pro-Gorkhaland supporters pelted stones and hurled petrol bombs and glass bottles at the police, an official said. Police said the protesters were baton-charged and tear gas shells were lobbed at them.
The GJM plans to take out a rally with Tamang’s body in Mirik on Tuesday, the 34th day of the indefinite shutdown.
A sit-in outside the district magistrate’s office in Darjeeling to press for the demand for a separate state has also been planned.
Army troops continued to maintain a vigil in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Sonada.
Except pharmacies, all other shops, restaurants, hotels, schools and colleges were closed while internet services remain suspended for the last 31 days in the hills. PTI