The Binay Tamang faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has asked traders in the Darjeeling town to keep shops open only from 7am to noon from Monday because the party feels the purpose of the lockdown is defeated as people are roaming around without any valid reason.

The government has provided relaxation in the sale of essential items like grocery, medicine and LPG during the 21-day lockdown, but there is no specific order on timings.

“We have noticed that people are coming to the town without a particular reason. In fact, they are simply loitering around through the day. Hence, we have asked all shopkeepers to remain open only from 7am to 12 (noon) from tomorrow (Monday),” Suraj Sharma, the spokesman for the Tamang camp, said on Sunday.

“We have noticed that shops selling meat and fishes are mostly crowded and people don’t adhere to social distancing norms. We would request meat and fish sellers to completely shut their business for some days for the larger good of the community,” said Sharma.

An appeal has also been made to keep open the medicine shops near the district hospital in the afternoon.

“When people are asked why they are on the streets, one of the common replies is that they have come to purchase medicines which we doubt is the real purpose,” said Kamal Chhetri, the president of the Morcha’s Darjeeling town committee.

Darjeeling police said they had arrested four persons and seized over 300 grams of heroin from them when they were travelling in a vehicle that was bringing vegetables from the plains.

In Kalimpong, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration chief Anit Thapa said the hill body would open a “community kitchen” to provide food to people at quarantine centres, those on the frontline in the fight against Covid-19 and the needy.

Thapa said the GTA had distributed thermal scanners to all health centres in 86 tea gardens across the Darjeeling hills on Sunday.