According to GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri, all central and state government offices including block development offices, sub-divisional offices and district magistrate offices, banks, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (the hill development body) offices will be closed as a part of the shutdown from Monday.
The police on Sunday night arrested five Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters for their alleged role in Thursday's violence in Darjeeling as the party prepared to launch an indefinite strike from Monday seeking a separate state of Gorkhaland.
The state government said that no salary will be given to absentee employees unless they were in an emergency like hospitalisation or death in the family, among other things. GJM president Bimal Gurung had asked tourists to leave the hills and renewed the demand for Gorkhaland.
Odisha Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Chandra Panda said efforts were being made to ensure safe return of tourists from the troubled region.
State government revenue sources like electricity, mines and boulders will be part of the GJM's shutdown, Giri said.
Violence had erupted after GJM supporters tried to break the police barricades and march to the venue of the cabinet meeting to protest the "imposition" of the Bengali language in the schools in the hills. "She should end her interference and apologise to the people of West Bengal", BJP leader Rahul Sinha told ANI. Traffic was reported to be thin in Darjeeling city as many people chose to stay home fearing violence.
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"The government has encroached on our identity, our language Nepali".
An indefinite shutdown of government offices has been called in Darjeeling and Kalimpong.
He assured that the GJM will talk to the Centre as the state government is trying to suppress Gorkhaland for her own political interest. "We will never tolerate it", Gurung said, adding "we are ready to court arrest, we will have to go to jail for the sake of the agitation".
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday blamed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the ongoing unrest over demands for the creation of a separate "Gorkhaland" state, adding that her "meaningless politics" has fueled the situation.
The unrest comes a month before elections to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, which is now run by the GJM.
The protests, which turned violent on Thursday, showed signs of simmering down on Saturday, but with a new call to cripple state administration, the hitherto peaceful hill town could see a surge in clashes.
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