Hill closure time changed to 4am to 4pm

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, 4 Oct 2019, Darjeeling: Friday's "closure" in the Darjeeling hills will be from 4am to 4pm, leaders of seven trade unions have announced.

On Wednesday, the unions had appealed to the hills to observe a 12-hour closure from 6am.

Karuna Gurung -- the president of the Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union, the trade union of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Binay Tamang camp) -- said on Thursday: "We have decided to change the 12-hour closure timing from 6am-to-6pm to 4am-to4pmNH10, which connects Sikkim with the rest of the country and passes through Darjeeling district, has been kept out of the closure purview.

Gurung did not cite any reason but sources in the Morcha said the decision was taken considering the movement of people, including tourists, during Durga Puja. "The appeal for closure was made at a very short notice. We have decided to keep the hills open after 4pm on Friday," a source said.

"The inconvenience tourists might face because of the The hunger strike in Darjeeling on Thursday dawn-to-dusk closure might also have prompted the leaders to change the timing," said an observer.

The announcement was made from the podium where leaders of hill trade unions sat on a hunger strike on Thursday. The hunger strike started at 9am and was lifted at 7pm.

Binay Tamang has threatened to sit on an indefinite hunger strike from October 6 if the bonus issue is not resolved by Friday.

The closure has been called after the management and unions failed to reach a consensus on the bonus amount after six rounds of meetings. The management had agreed on a 15 per cent bonus while the unions have demanded at least 19 per cent of the workers' annual earnings. The unions are now demanding bonus at the rate of 20 per cent after talks failed.

Raju Bista, the Darjeeling BJP MP, has written to Darjeeling planters, appealing them to disburse bonus at the rate of 20 per cent.

"I assure you, in the coming days, I will work hand in hand with all the tea industry stakeholders -- owners, workers, unions, Tea Board officials, ministry of commerce and labour and together we will find ways and means to make the Darjeeling Tea industry much more profitable and sustainable," Bista, who is also a member of the Tea Board of India, has written..