Inclement weather fails to deter tourists

SILIGURI, Sept. 10: Despite natural calamities in the form of floods and landslides reigning havoc, domestic tourists are showing no sign of retracting from holidaying in north Bengal during the Pujas. At least, the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation booking register indicates so. According to the WBTDC sources, almost all its tourist lodges located at different tourist hotspots in the region have already been booked up for the puja season. There is no accommodation left at the Darjeeling Tourist Lodge and the Kalimpong (Morgan House) Tourist Lodge between 18 and 31 October. Similarly, the Jaldapara Tourist Lodge is booked up for 18 to 26 October, while the Malbazar Tourist Lodge was exhausting out fast. But does not the severed road communications run the chance of large scale cancellations in the tourist bookings? Mr Gopal Lama, the deputy director, West Bengal Tourism, said: "I don't think so. There is still more than one month to go before the puja season sets in and we are hopeful, by then the road conditions will improve as also would the weather." Meanwhile, since 1 July, the WBTDC has linked all its tourist booking centres and lodges across the state over intranet. This has facilitated in decentralisation of the booking facility and now one can even reserve accommodation in one lodge from the other. Earlier, the booking facility was available only at the Siliguri and Kolkata centres of the WBTDC.Whatever be the tourist inflow during the Pujas, as of now, the people of Sikkim and Kalimpong are having tough time to commute to the plains. The vehicles are plying via the Darjeling-Monsong alternate route, resulting in a sharp hike in the fare. The Siliguri-Gangtok taxi fare (on sharing basis) has shot up to Rs 200-250 from the actual fare of Rs 120, while the Kalimpong fare has increased to Rs 200.