DARJEELING, October 5: Giving no respite to a bandh hit tourism industry in Darjeeling, a strike called by drivers of water tankers, the elixir of the hill station, has brought an excellent tourism season here down to its knees.
The strike which began from yesterday had a rippling effect not only on the tourism stakeholders but also the common people here in the hill town. The agitating drivers are demanding that the tankers be allowed to enter the town and distribute water as per their convenience.
Talks at various levels from today morning have failed to mitigate the issue.
The resultant water scarcity have forced the hotels here to started rejecting new tourists while forcing the guests to bring their Darjeeling sojourn to an abrupt end from today.
“Water had stopped coming from yesterday and we are out of water so we are compelled to ask our guests to check out”, said a hotel owner. We are also unable to take in new guests, he added.
Almost all the hotels here depend on water tankers for their daily water supply of 15000 to 18000 litres.
After a tumultuous nine months, a good season had beckoned for the tourism industry in Darjeeling this puja break with arrival of domestic and foreign tourists in good numbers leading to packed hotels.
However, the problem posed by agitating water tanker drivers has spoiled a good ending for the tourism industry of Darjeeling. Locals are also facing water supply problems in the town area which already notorious for its meager water supply sources.
Meanwhile, the drivers are adamant that they be allowed to ply their tankers in the bazaar area as per the old timetable – till 8 am in the morning, between 11 am to 3 pm and after 6 pm in the evening.
The Darjeeling traffic police had tweaked the existing time table to allow the tankers to enter the bazaar area only between 1 pm to 4 pm in the afternoon which led to the strike call.
An offer of 12 noon to 4 pm timetable by the police to the drivers was not accepted leading to the impasse.
At the same time, the Darjeeling Hotel Owners Association has appealed to the drivers to call of their strike.
The water tanker drivers have also not allowed other private vehicles to ferry water into the town .
Truck drivers in Darjeeling have suspended till 9am tomorrow an indefinite strike they called to protest against the new timings imposed by traffic police for water supply in the town.The strike today affected the residents as well as the 300-odd hotels, which entirely depend on the trucks for the water supply.
Mitra Rai, officer-in-charge (traffic), said: “The restriction has been imposed considering the fact that tourists, who get down from trains at NJP in the morning, reach Darjeeling between 10am and 11am. We are trying to ensure that the traffic is smooth from 10am to 1pm.”
Earlier, the tankers were allowed to ply between 11am and 3pm and from 5pm to 8am.
Today, the police told the drivers that the trucks could run in the town from 12pm to 4pm everyday. A representative of the drivers said they would decide tomorrow whether they should accept the timing the police offered today.
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