India's Tea Capital Crippled by Strike

KOLKATA, India, June 17, 2008 — -- Protesters shut down India's famous Darjeeling hills on Tuesday, threatening its tea and tourism industries, as the Gorkha community pressed its demand for autonomy with an indefinite strike.

Gorkhas, who are ethnic Nepalis, are demanding a separate state of "Gorkhaland" be carved out of the eastern state of West Bengal to protect their culture and heritage.

Streets were deserted in Darjeeling on Tuesday.

The strike has badly hit the tourism and the tea industries, the two mainstays of the local economy, and a tea industry official warned exports of premium Darjeeling tea could fall 20-25 percent this year.

Protesters called off the strike for a few days last week and forced tourists to leave Darjeeling. But on Tuesday, they shut down hotels again and asked local residents to stock up on food.

"We have asked people to have enough stocks for at least 45 days as we will continue to agitate, irrespective of the hardship," Bimal Gurung, the protest leader and head of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Gorkha People's Liberation Front).

The region's vast tea gardens ship highly prized and fragrant brews around the world, churning out about 10 million kg a year.

Although tea workers were exempted from the strike, the lack of transport and fear of violence was hitting the industry, said Rajiv Lochan, secretary of the Siliguri Tea Traders' Association.

Tourist were also avoiding Darjeeling hills with hundreds of cancellations reported by tour operators since last week.

The ruling communist government in West Bengal has ruled out a separate "Gorkhaland" state but has offered to talk to the protest leaders, but they have refused.

"We want to talk to New Delhi, but not with the local government," Gurung said.

The communist government has also threatened serious action if the strike was not lifted.

"Will it be good if petrol and diesel supplies to the hills were stopped?" Subhas Chakraborty, the eastern state's transport minister asked in Kolkata, the state capital.

LIKELY TO DRAG ON

Experts say the central and state government are unlikely to give in to the Gorkha demand, and warn the agitation could intensify and be long drawn-out as emotions are running high.

"If the Gorkhas take the agitation too far there would be a flight of capital and distress sale of property by the non- Gorkhas," Abhirup Sarkar, an economist in Kolkata said.

The protests have also fanned ethnic tensions between Nepalis and Bengalis, after reports emerged of a few Bengali tourists being roughed up last week.

Hundreds of Bengalis living in the foothills to the south near the town of Siliguri have blocked roads to the hills and last week beat up some ethnic Nepalis.

The Hindustan Times warned that ethnic tensions could rise if the state government failed to clamp down on Bengali "goons", while the Times of India said the state government should make it clear to the Gorkhas that violence would not help their cause.

At least 1,200 people died in the first Gorkhaland campaign in the 1980s, but protests ended a few years later after Gorkha leaders accepted limited autonomy. This time around Gorkha leaders insist their campaign will be peaceful.

(Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Simon Denyer)

REUTERS@ Reut03:24 06-17-0806-17-2008 07:25UTC / (RE.ny-reu.08a.am-nyny-inwcp02) /