TURA: The small town of Dalu in West Garo Hills wore a deserted look on Tuesday as shops remained shut and people stayed off the roads during the two-day non-cooperation movement (NCM) called by combined organisations from the area in protest against the movement of boulder trucks into Bangladesh through the town.
Combined organisations from the region, under the banner of the Dalu Area Citizens Forum (DACF), have called for a two-day NCM from Tuesday demanding that the district administration put a stop to the boulder export to Bangladesh in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Trucks from Bhutan continue to use the area as a transit point to export boulder into Bangladesh and the organisations want it to be stopped fearing risk of infection to the local people.
Earlier, the organisations had also submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister urging his immediate intervention on the matter. In the memorandum, the organisations had alleged multiple stoppages, movement of truckers in the market area for food and purchase and mingling with the local crowds as some of the violations by the truck drivers.
They had also claimed that no checks were conducted on the truckers upon their entry from Bangladesh, which, however, was denied at the time by the deputy commissioner, who informed that they were being tested and so far all turned out to be negative. Tuesday’s protest, which witnessed total shutdown of the border town, passed off peacefully with no untoward incidents being reported.