NH-31A blocked, Sikkim cut off

GANGTOK, Feb 9 – Sikkim was cut off from the rest of the country when Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJM) activists blocked the National Highway 31A early Saturday as part of their 24-hour strike in the Darjeeling Hills region.

Vehicular traffic between Sikkim and Siliguri via the NH-31A has been totally paralysed since early morning, police officials at Rangpo inter-state border checkpost told PTI here.

Only a few vehicles belonging to the military forces, press persons and some ambulances were seen on the streets on the NH 31A, officials said.

The GJM had called for the strike in the Darjeeling Hills region to protest against “injustice to the adivasis in the state and police atrocities on them at Lalgarh in particular”.