Fresh violence has erupted in Darjeeling hills, prompting the state government to call the Army back on the streets as Gorkhaland supporters torched a police outpost, a toy train station and clashed with the police at two places on Saturday.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), spearheading the agitation for a separate state carved out of West Bengal, claimed that two youths were killed in police firing and rejected Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s offer of talks.
The police, however, said they did not have any report of firing. Police pickets and barricades were placed in front of the government and GTA offices and various entry exit points of the hills while Rapid Action Force (RAF) and a sizable number of women police personnel were also deployed.
Banerjee appealed for peace and said that the government was ready for talks with the hill parties, but peace has to be restored first.
In a statement last night, the GJM, however, said the doors for talks with Banerjee and the state government are “closed forever”.