Dooars strike brings trade to a standstill

SILIGURI: As feared earlier, the indefinite strike called by the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad (ABAVP) has put Dooars in a spot. Though tea gardens have been kept out of the bandh, all other trading activities in the industrially backward area have come to a halt.

"It is an unfortunate development. We are worried with the situation," said state urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya on Monday. He told ET: A section of people is trying to wrongly utilise the peace-loving tribal people here."

According to R. Lakra, coordinator of ABAVP Dooars Terai, the bandh would continue till their demands are met. The ABAVP charter of demand includes realignment of the East-West Corridor through Dooars, a separate Lok Sabha constituency for the tribals in Dooars and Terai and more Hindi medium academic institutions.

About these, Mr Bhattacharya said: "The road alignment bypassing Dooars has been finalised as the alignment was not allowed by the ministry of environment and forests. A separate Lok Sabha constituency is in the hands of the Delimitation Commission. Already, a good number of Hindi schools is already there. But that can be increased depending upon the requirements."

But he also accepted that in several areas, social condition of a section of tribal people is not good enough.
The bandh is the spontaneous outburst of more than 6 lakh tribal people in Dooars. Despite a different view of the ABAVP state level body, its Dooars Terai section had called for a vote boycott. It had seriously hit Left Front chances in Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar seats.

However, after Dooars, the bandh is likely to spread to the entire Terai region. "If it happens, the situation will be difficult to handle and economy of the entire region will be shattered," said a senior member of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, North Bengal.