Steps planned against overcharge

AVIJIT SINHA

Siliguri, June 1: The increase in the incidents of tourists being overcharged by sections of taxis and hotels during the current season has prompted the tour operators in north Bengal and Sikkim to plan steps that could put an end to such illegal practices.

The Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators’ Association said a campaign against the unethical practices in the tourism sector would be launched among the taxi drivers and hoteliers once the summer season was over.

“Once the tourist rush comes down in the next two weeks, we will seek the intervention of Bengal and Sikkim governments to end the overcharging of passengers by taxis and overpricing of hotel rooms. We will sit with the associations engaged in tourism and urge them to carry out campaigns among their members against the fleecing of visitors,” said Raj Basu, the advisor to the tour operators’ association. The tour operators also plan to bring about transparency in various rates charged by the taxis and hotels. The operators will ask lodges and hotels to display room tariffs in front of the buildings.

“We will also display taxi fares at tourist entry points like Bagdogra airport, NJP, Tenzing Norgay Central Bus Terminus in Siliguri, and taxi stands in Darjeeling and Gangtok,” said a tour operator.

A hotel manager was arrested in Darjeeling last week for overcharging a tourist. The manager of Hotel Swati was arrested for charging Rs 6,000 per day for a room, while the police felt the rate should have ideally been Rs 1,000.

The tour operators said they had also suffered losses because of the overpricing of rooms by the hotels. “We had made hotel bookings and reserved vehicles in advance for our clients at standard rates,” said Partha Pratim Guha, a Siliguri-based tour operator.

“But during this season, many of us had to pay extra amounts to hotels and taxis because of the unprecedented inflow of tourists. We had to pay from our pockets to keep our commitments.”