Sikkim suffers the bandhs, worried CM writes to PM

GANGTOK, June 13: The Sikkim chief minister Mr Pawan Chamling today wrote a letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh telling him about the problems that Sikkim has been going through in the recent times as a result of the strikes are being observed in parts of north Bengal. The chief minister has pointed out that the successive bandhs called in the Darjeeling hills and Siliguri have disrupted movement of vehicles and goods to and from Sikkim in the past few days affecting the stock of essential commodities in the mountain state. “We have started rationing of essential commodities in the state to meet the crisis,” Mr Chamling said. “Even the students seeking admission for higher studies outside the state or patients requiring urgent treatment elsewhere have become victims of such bandhs,” he added.  Though the state government is doing its best to evacuate people stranded in the state, the successive bandhs are negating these efforts. Tourism, which is the mainstay of Sikkim is also getting affected due to such bandhs, which have been a regular feature in the neighbouring state for the past 28 years, the chief minister, said. The chief minister has therefore appealed to the Prime Minister to personally intervene in the matter for a solution to the problem. [The Statesman]