OPINION: Darkness in Darjeeling


FROM INDIAN EXPRESS FINANCE

By Lavina Mangat
With inputs from Rohit Khanna

Darjeeling, synonymous with verdant tea gardens, rolling mist from the majestic mountains and the spectacular Kanchenjunga, is today home to a movement that has shattered the peace of the queen of hills. Agitators forcing strikes, shutdowns and road blocks for the sake of a separate state, Gorkhaland, are a common sight on the same streets that were filled with tourists just a couple of years back.

The revival of the statehood movement in June 2008 by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has hugely dented the impressive figures of around three lakh tourists every year and Rs 1,000-crore revenue for the tourism industry.

The coming tourist season will also begin on a sceptical note. Around 65% of the business from tourism is garnered between the peak months of March and June. Hotel owners in the town say they can’t bear to see a deserted Mall, where in peak season 4,000-5,000 people jostled for space. PK Mahapatra, manager, Mayfair Hotel, says the hotel recorded a loss of Rs 70 lakh during the winter months. And, there is no guarantee that the coming season will pass off peacefully. “We are the worst-affected. The number of foreign tourists has come down by 40% during September-February compared with the same period last year,” he says. Occupancy for the hotel was at 60% throughout 2007-08, which came down to 38% in 2008-09. In 2009-10, it is going to be 40%. Business is, obviously, flat.

Figures speak for themselves. In 2008-09, of the total tourist arrival, foreign and domestic tourists were equally split. But in 2009-10, the share has been 35% foreign and 65% domestic tourists. “Foreigners are very sensitive to any news of disruption and hence the decline. If some people are still coming to Darjeeling, it is because the agitators have never harmed tourists physically,” explains Mahapatra. The hotel has 50% bookings in March, but everything depends on the political situation. Hotel Viceroy, another high-end hotel, has a similar story, with business down 40% in November and December in 2009 alone and foreigner flow being particularly hit. The hotel was witnessing a 15-20% growth from 2006, which came to a screeching halt from June 2008 with a 50-55% decline in revenues.

Another attraction of Darjeeling, the “toy train”, which runs on the narrowest gauge (two feet) in the country and enjoys world heritage status, had few takers last year. This is the same train, about which Mark Twain had remarked after a ride in 1896, “It is the most enjoyable day I have spent on earth.”

This train has been chugging along for the past 128 years with the help of a steam engine, and using some of the most unusual engineering techniques. Connecting the plains of West Bengal at New Jalpaiguri with Darjeeling, it passes through the most breathtaking scenery and climbs to a height of 7,400 ft at Ghum (the highest station in India and the second-highest in the world), from where Mt Kanchenjunga is visible on clear days. If one walks fast, one can match the speed of the train, which is 15 km per hour. Once full on all its journeys, the train has been standing idle for most of 2009. The Darjeeling Himalaya Railway director wasn’t available for comment.

When West Bengal tourism development managing director TVN Rao was contacted about the dismal state of affairs, he said, “We have had two road shows in Delhi and Mumbai each in the past one month and both have received a good response. Once things are normal, the tourism industry will recover in a couple of months.”

Infrastructure has also taken a beating, with most roads in need of urgent repair. Since development work has come to a standstill in the past two years, roads are in a bad condition, and it takes double the time to reach any destination.

On the perennial water problem, Rao admits there has been unrestricted growth in the hills that the area cannot bear. “The popularity of Darjeeling is also in a way negative as it puts pressure on the land and infrastructure,” he adds.

The Darjeeling-Sikkim region has seen tremendous growth in the past eight-nine years, with growth rate in double digits (over 20%), but the strikes have caused irreparable damage to the region’s image.

Gorkhaland Tea?

The world over, premium Darjeeling tea is the last name for tea connoisseurs, with the exquisitely flavoured premium quality sipped even in the fashionable salons of Paris. Of the total produce, 50% is exported and of the premium teas, 90% are exported. There are 87 gardens (50 producing premium tea) that are a part of the Rs 200-crore Darjeeling tea industry. But last year, the industry lost its flavour when the GJM demanded that Darjeeling tea should be branded as the produce of Gorkhaland. They also demanded that the estates print “The flavour of Gorkhaland” on every packing. This has left owners of the tea gardens in a fix over re-branding.

The agitators are also demanding daily payment of Rs 5 from the workers and Rs 200 from the managers of the gardens. Coupled with a delayed monsoon affecting the first flush of the crop, production in Darjeeling in 2009 dipped to 10.7 million kg from 11.5 million kg in 2008, as per Tea Board of India estimates.

Tea tourism, envisaged around six years ago, has been a non-starter for most tea gardens because of certain legal hassles in using the land for any other purpose other than tea plantation. The few exceptions are Selim Hills, Makaibari, Zurrantee, Phaskowa, Runglee Rungliot-Takdha, and the Glenburn Tea Estate and Boutique. Although it is at a nascent stage and still picking up, this kind of tourism can never be mass-based as it is expensive, with costs going up to Rs 9,000-10,000 per night for a room, says Partha Guha of Alpine Nature Beyond, which operates tea tours across Darjeeling, Kurseong and the Dooars. Glenburn’s Husna-Tara Prakash says bad infrastructure is a major hindrance, besides the blocked highways. “We have to get our guests to the airport as early as 3 am for a 6 am flight if there is going to be a highway blockade. Sometimes our guests have had to cancel their trip as the whole region was shut,” she says. The tea tourism has been attracting mostly foreign tourists. “We have around 1,000 guests annually, of which around 800 are from abroad,” says Prakash. Glenburn got into the tea tourism business seven years back when things were on a high, but now, for tea gardens to start a similar initiative is not just expensive, but risky too, as they are not sure of a good response.

The West Bengal government has given four tea estates permission to build resorts in the past one year. Tea gardens either run the show or give it to a franchisee. The tourists are encouraged to stay in tea garden bungalows with all amenities, during which apart from enjoying the serene atmosphere of tea garden, they can also see the tea manufacturing process and the unique culture of a tea garden. Nature walks, tea plucking sessions, trekking, rafting and golf are also on offer. The ideal time to visit a tea estate is around October to March.

Blot on education

The region has been a name to reckon with when it comes to the best of missionary schools, with some even dating back to the 18th century. St Joseph’s North Point, St Paul’s, Loreto Convent, Mt Hermon’s and St Helen’s all have a Darjeeling address. Several eminent personalities, including the King of Bhutan and the late King Birendra of Nepal, have spend their school days in Darjeeling.

Admissions take place around October-November and students come from all over the country and even Nepal, Bangladesh and Thailand. There are nearly 20 convent boarding schools in the three sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. The schools have around 1,000 students each on an average. St Joseph North Point in Darjeeling has 1,100 students 500 boarders and the remaining day scholars. About 250-300 students are foreigners. “The number of students has come down throughout the region, though our school was not affected because of tight security on the campus, modern ways of teaching and 100% water harvesting,” says Sajid Ahmed, a teacher at St Joseph’s North Point.

Though schools do not face any problem in their internal workings, the agitation has led to ration shortage and transportation hassles. Some schools in Kurseong, like Little Flower which had 200 students, mostly from Bangladesh had to close down because of the tension. Principals of all these reputed schools have appealed for undisrupted movement of school buses and children.

“Parents do fear about the situation in the hills, but once the child is in school, he is completely safe. We even drop the students to Siliguri with full security as and when required. Our website keeps the parents informed about all events and holidays in advance so that they can plan their visit accordingly. We even apprise them of the political situation,” explains Ahmed.

Newly set up commercial schools have opted for Siliguri, out of the agitation zone. These include DPS, Goenka and GD Birla schools. “Due to political instability, we are losing out on international students as also those from Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Parents are thinking twice before sending their children here,” admits Friar Kinley, principal of St Joseph’s North Point.

This is the third year in a row that schools are being affected due to the political instability. Many schools are also finding it hard to recruit teachers since not many are willing to work in a troubled region. As Mahapatra of Mayfair Hotel rightly sums up, “If this continues, Darjeeling is heading towards the dark ages.”