Gangtok down, but not out

Normalcy limped back into Gangtok on Thursday after a Wednesday of madness. There was no picketing but traffic was thin on the roads. Seen here is Hospital Dara which saw some disturbing acts of violence yesterday, the scars of which still blacken the tarmac. Shops at MG Marg also remained closed, but there were no rallies anywhere.



NORMALCY BEGINS TAKING TENTATIVE STEPS BACK TO TOWN 

RANJIT SINGH
GANGTOK, 17 July: A day after Gangtok was overwhelmed by an uncharacteristic near collapse of law & order, the first signs of normalcy made a brave comeback on Thursday. The public at large, too, heaved a collective sigh of relief, and probably for the first time too, got to see a significant police presence along the national highway and bazaar area.
The Sikkim Police also seemed to be getting its act together after it had been totally worsted for a better part of the day by certain elements on Wednesday. The police urged drivers to hit the road and also began the crackdown on those suspected to be involved in the mindless mayhem of 16 July. By 3:15 p.m., 25 people had already been picked up and by 4 p.m. the figure had crossed 30 and is expected to rise further.
As informed, these people have been picked up from various areas in and around Gangtok. With limited space in the Sadar lock up, it was expected that some of those picked up would be taken to a lock up appointed at the SAP camp at Pangthang. A total of 7 cases of vandalism have been filed in the Sadar thana relating to the events of 16 July against multiple accused.
It may be recalled that 33 vehicles and two motorcycles were vandalized on Wednesday by violent protesters.
A senior official of the Police Department stated, “There has been police deployment in various Sectors in and around Gangtok. This was put into place on the evening of 16 July itself. Things are returning to normal as is visible today.”
Senior officials while accepting that the student protest could have been handled with more tact, also believed that the demand and protest of the students has been hijacked by “vested interests” leading to the vandalism witnessed yesterday.
“The mob started the violence and not the police. When they started pelting stones, the police had to respond,” stated a senior official, pointing out that the police did not move out even when targeted with offensive and demeaning heckling and moved out only when physical violence was unleashed. The official put emphasis on the importance of the cooperation of the public in order for peace to prevail and to overcome unruly and vested interests.
In fact members of the public seemed supportive of the police presence and action in restoring peace and initiating arrests of those people who had been involved in the mayhem and vandalism of 16 July.  Several members of the public, inconvenienced by the events of the previous day had no hesitation in condemning it as hooliganism by vested interests. It is important that the police and the administration marshal this rare goodwill well, and not squander it with pointless arrests and over bearing crackdown.
Some of the most inconvenienced by the events of the previous day were a section of taxi drivers who today were uncertain of resuming their services after the police had identified that a certain section of the taxi drivers had come out in support of the demonstrations started by the student body and were clearly identified as being among the rioters.
Early morning Thursday saw the police, led by IG [Law & Order], Akshay Sachdeva, emerge to see to it that adequate police presence was around to ‘reassure’ the people. Flag marches were conducted.  The police also went on to ‘urge’ taxi drivers to resume business.
There was apparently some gap in communicating with the drivers who when told by the police to put their taxi stands to use interpreted it to mean that they were now to run without taxi stands. Road signs, including taxi stop signs, were popular among the picketers yesterday and at many places, the taxi stop signs are now missing. This presents some delicious opportunities to invoke unauthorized parking penalties and will be overlooked by the people for a day maybe, but will become a nuisance if stretched any longer and squander the goodwill because people will be the most inconvenienced.
While the police presence was reassuring most shops and business establishments in MG Marg and along the national highway in the bazaar area remained closed. Shops towards Deorali and Tadong, however were largely open.
There was substantial police presence today with the police getting its act together. Gangtok town upwards of Ranipool is divided by the police into 8 sectors for the sake of convenience. As the DIG [Range], Dr. MS Tuli informed, each sector was stationed with armed police, civilian police, women police personnel and a sector magistrate.
Flag marches were conducted in each of the sectors. Members of the public were urged to report any antisocial elements to the police. In Tadong there was an additional deployment of civilian police under the SDPO. As DIG Range stated, the police appreciates peaceful demonstrations by the people but violence and damage to public property is not acceptable.