Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha leader Binoy Tamang on Thursday assured the business community here that no political outfit would interfere in the work of businesspersons in the Hills from now on.

The chief of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) also iterated that there will be no strikes/shutdowns in the Hills. Mr Tamang was addressing a discussion programme organized by the party’s town committee with business persons at the Gorkha Dukha Niwarak Sammelan Hall in Darjeeling.

“As long as I am here, I will not allow any strikes to take place. There were many bad practices earlier on, but I could not do anything about them then, but now I will ensure that neither my party nor any other will be allowed to interfere in your business. We will keep you secure, and if you have any problems, our door is always open for you all. We should stop extortion and goonda- ism,” he said.

The Morcha leader mostly focused on the need for people to have a sense of belonging towards the Hills and work together.

“I have not come here to do politics and also do not want to do any, or ask for votes. We should not see politics, but rise above it and think that Darjeeling is ours and we have to make it better. The sense of belonging has lessened in people here and awareness programmes should be conducted by different organisations for personal development. We can only do physical development through funds that are coming in, which are much more than what were coming here earlier with development activities going on at a fast pace,” Mr Tamang said.

The Morcha leader also asked the various business organisations here to have one single umbrella organization, which will be apolitical in nature. “We are doing whatever we can to solve the problems here, which are in plenty, and in our Mission-2020, we will try to solve almost 50 % of it. People also have a big role to play in this,” he added.

Mr Tamang also said that the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) will be having a meeting with GTA officials on 20 April in Darjeeling where a water-harvesting project for the Hills will be discussed, along with a team of the CII also visiting Gorubathan on the 22nd.