Sikkim tourism season cut short by bandh series

Wait and watch policy over NH 31A movement

source;voice of sikkim


GANGTOK, May 14: The bumper tourism season which Sikkim is presently harvesting is feared to have come to a premature end with political disturbances flaring up once again in the neighbouring Darjeeling and Siliguri-Dooars region.

A series of bandhs riding mainly on Gorkhaland issue started in neighbouring region from today till May 16 with Sikkim firmly caught in the middle. The woes of this landlocked State will continue in June also with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) calling a 10-day strike from June 12 to June 21.

This lengthy bandh call has all but ended the tourism season for both Darjeeling and Sikkim, said the tour operators here.

Sikkim is presently enjoying a bumper season with almost all the 600 small and large hotels in Gangtok and tourism packages booked continuously till June 31, said Travel Agents Association of Sikkim (TAAS) general secretary Lukendra Rasaily.

With hundreds of tourists who had completed their stay here leaving to Siliguri today, tour operators here are confident that remaining tourists and new arrival will be not facing major problems during their stay in Gangtok on May 15 and 16, the tour operators are more worried about the upcoming ten days strike in the hills in June.

At the same time, upcoming tourism footfalls here has been affected with the news of present and upcoming bandh calls spreading across the country.


Sikkim Tourism Industry reesl on bad days

Political disturbances have again flared up in the neighbouring region and Sikkim will be again choked as anything can happen during the series of bandh, the tour operators said. The bandh call in June for ten days has brought a premature end to the tourism season for both Sikkim and Darjeeling, they said.

“There have been some immediate impacts as a percentage of tourists have started contacting tour operators here and some have cancelled their trips. But the upcoming ten days strike in neighbouring Darjeeling hills is most worrying factor here”, said the tour operators.

The TAAS general secretary said that if the lengthy bandh does take place, the foreign tourists would be most affected as they have connecting flights to take and reach their home countries.

“Tourists are also contacting the tour operators seeking a diversion or postponement. Diversion of tourists is very difficult as we have limited places as far as Sikkim and Darjeeling region is concerned”, said Rasaily. Northeast region is very far and Nepal is also disturbed, he said.

District Collector (East) D Anandan said that he spoke to his Darjeeling counterpart over the bandh called by 48 hours strike called by GJM.

“The Darjeeling DM told me that the NH 31A will remain open during the two day strike. I was told that the highway was out of purview of the strike”, said Anandan.

What actually happen in the ground, we have to wait and observe tomorrow, he added.

We will also be in constant touch with the Darjeeling administration over the status of the national highway during the bandh period, said Anandan.

Despite an appeal made by a NGO based in the West Bengal region of NH 31A to the drivers to keep off the highway during the bandh period, officials here are of the belief that the NH 31A here will remain unaffected since the GJM has not declared the highway will be closed.

“We have to wait and watch”, said the officials.

Meanwhile, hundreds of tourists from Gangtok left for Siliguri today early morning in taxi vehicles in order to escape the series of bandh starting from today in the hills and plains.

Though there was a strike called in Siliguri, the tourists started moving out of Gangtok since 5 am in the morning up to Salugara.

Six SNT buses left for Siliguri today with tourists.

Taxi drivers here told media that they have briefed the tourists about the situation in the Siliguri and that they will be dropped at Salugara. Around 100 taxis left from Gangtok since morning to Salugara, the drivers said.

Most of the tourists were those who had completed their stay in Gangtok.

However, the drivers here in Sikkim are not very sure about traveling along the NH 31A on May 15 and 16. We have to observe the situation tomorrow but we will not be issuing tickets from the counter here, said the mainline taxi counter here at Deorali.

The strategy of ‘wait and watch’, however, depends on whether taxi and truck drivers are willing to ply along the 114 kms NH 31A, a major part of which falls under the Kalimpong subdivision of Darjeeling district.

Despite the Supreme Court directives that NH 31A should be kept free from disturbances, the general feeling here among the taxi drivers is to remain off the highway during the strike so as to evade trouble.

Their fears stem from the incident of February 18 earlier this year when four vehicles had been vandalized by unidentified group along the NH31A between Tarkhola and Coronation bridge, a day when the GJM had called a general strike in the hills.