Ticket cap adds to tourist woes

Tribune News Service

Mandi/Kullu, May 27

Tourists continued to face inconvenience in Manali as commercial vehicles remained off the road for the ninth day today.

Autorickshaw, taxi and luxury bus operators went on an indefinite strike on May 19 to protest the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The NGT has imposed hefty environmental compensation charges on the Rohtang-bound vehicles and also restricted their number to 1,000 per day.

Sudeepto Benerjee, a tourist from West Bengal who had come with a group of eight people, said it was really a tough task to get a ticket of the HRTC bus. As no other mode of transportation was available, he was left with no other option but to stand in a long queue for hours to get the ticket.

Kullu HRTC Regional Manager Pawan Sharma said 44 buses were pressed into service and nearly 2,400 tourists were taken to various destinations around Manali, including the Rohtang Pass.

He said buses and the staff from other depots were requisitioned to clear the rush of tourists. They had also started one-day advance booking and also restricted the number of tickets per passenger to five to check black-marketing, he added.

He said they were charging Rs 600 per passenger, including the green cess.

Sources said the buses were not enough to cater to the huge rush of tourists and were only managing to ferry nearly 30 to 40 per cent of the tourists. Also, all tourists would not be able to see the Rohtang Pass due to the cap on the number of vehicles, they added.

Majid Khan, who had come along with his family from Maharashtra, said they had come to see snow, but they were not aware of the situation. He regretted that they had descended on the town at a wrong time.

Call for Manali bandh  

Taxi operators in Manali on Wednesday gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the state government to file an affidavit in the National Green Tribunal (NGT).   Him-Aanchal Taxi Operators Union, Manali, secretary MD Sharma said the government was paying only lip service and if the government failed to file an affidavit in the NGT within 24 hours, they would shut the town on May 29. The taxi operators also filed a review petition in the NGT. They were on an indefinite strike from May 9.