Darjeeling: A Gorkha front on September 26 withdrew its stir for a separate state after more than 100 days.
The Darjeeling hills of northern West Bengal state have witnessed a near total shutdown during the period.
Bimal Gurung, president of Gorkhaland, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) announced the withdrawal of the stir.
The strike will be withdrawn from 6 am on September 27, Gurung told journalists in Darjeeling.
The development came hours after federal Home Minister Rajnath Singh made a fresh appeal to Gurung to withdraw the ongoing bandh.
Singh also said that he had asked federal Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba to convene an official-level meeting in the Ministry of Home Affairs within a fortnight to discuss all related issues.
“Eleven precious lives have been lost so far, several have been injured and the entire people of Darjeeling hills have suffered a lot since the strike. I have been pained immensely by what has happened in Darjeeling hills,” a press statement issued by the Press Information Bureau quoted the Home Minister as saying.
The GJM has been demanding that a tripartite dialogue involving the Centre, State and the GJM be started for the strike to be lifted.
While there was no direct assurance of tripartite talks by the Centre, the proposal of an official-level meeting was enough for the GJM.
Pressure was mounting on the leadership to call off the strike as markets, tea gardens, markets and other commercial installations were slowly opening in the hills, The Hindu reported.
The shutdown of administrative offices was announced on June 12 and on June 15 the GJM gave a call for a complete shutdown when police raided the house of Bimal Gurung.
The 104-day shutdown has brought the life and livelihood of people in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts to a grinding halt.
In the past three months, the hills also witnessed several incidents of violence as clashes broke out between Gorkhaland supporters and police.
Two rounds of talks with the West Bengal government and hill parties on August 29 and September 12 failed to break the deadlock.
Meanwhile during the day the State government restored Internet services in the hills.
The government has been claiming that “normalcy in the hill districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong has been restored with active participation of the residents of the two districts.”
“After Rajnath Singh’s appeal, we had a discussion with senior leaders, including GJM chief Bimal Gurung, and decided to withdraw the shutdown from 6 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday),” said GJM Assistant General Secretary Jyoti Rai.