Cut off from the rest of the country by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s blockade of NH-31A, the Sikkim government has asked Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to take steps for ensuring movement of goods and essential commodities.

Since June last year, the hill state has been cut off from the plains on at least four occasions.

“From what we know, only ambulances are plying on the highway. We have kept the Centre informed about the situation. We hope the Bengal government will be able to ensure that the highway remains opened to traffic at the earliest,” a senior official in Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling’s secretariat told The Indian Express on Tuesday.

While the highway has been blocked on several occasions due to landslides, the GJM’s movement for a separate Gorkhaland state has meant blockades at the pivotal Sewak More near Darjeeling. In July last year, the Sikkim government had approached the Supreme Court with an appeal that the Army be deployed to clear the highway blockade.

A Bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir had castigated the Bengal government while hearing petitions filed by Sikkim residents on NH-31A blockade. The Bench had expressed surprise that in times of crisis when essentials like medicine, fuel and food were not reaching the people, the government was showing “helplessness” in taking steps against those “holding the country to ransom”.

“They (states) leave their responsibilities to courts. The court has to pass an order which the state should do by itself. Then it is said there is interference and judicial overreach,” the Bench had said while directing the Centre and the governments of West Bengal and Sikkim to ensure smooth flow of traffic on the NH-31A.

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