
After a week of relative calm in the hills of Darjeeling, protests intensified on Tuesday as Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) supporters burnt copies of the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) accord signed in 2011.
“We don’t want GTA. We want Gorkhaland. We will continue our agitation for a separate state. We will not participate in election to GTA,” a GJM leader said.
“By burning the GTA accord we ended relations with the state government,” he added.
Some GJM supporters walked around bare chested and smashed tube lights on their backs leading to injuries.
The GTA was signed in July 2011 between the Centre, West Bengal government and the GJM as a semi-autonomous body to rule the hills.
An indefinite strike was announced in the Darjeeling, Kalimpong hills on June 15.