Taxi fare tripples in Sikkim

Gangtok , Sikkim : A severe shortage of vehicles has led to a skyrocketing of fares in the hill state during the tourist season.

The rush among the local people to go to their homes in the districts for Dashain and the pressure of tourists has led travel agents and drivers to demand triple the usual rates.

The chartering of vehicles for campaigning in the run-up to the panchayat elections, scheduled on October 26, has added to the crisis.

While most of the taxis have been either ferrying their families to the villages and those on holiday for the Dashain, the season saw acute shortages of main line taxis to neighboring Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Siliguri. Even the service within Sikkim is experiencing a huge shortage of vehicles. The few that are available are running packed with bookings made in advance. A large number of tourists and locals could be seen stranded at the taxi stands during the day.

“I had to shell out Rs 400 to reach Siliguri, that too after waiting for almost three hours at the private bus stand. I was lucky that one of the passenger, who had made an advance booking, did not turn up,” Lakpa Tshering, a resident of Rumtek, told The Telegraph. The normal fare from here to Siliguri is Rs 130. It was a similar story for those wanting to go to Kalimpong and Darjeeling. Even the buses were running packed.

The tourists, too, are complaining that they are being asked to pay more.

“We were asked for as much as Rs 4,000 for a vehicle just to drop us back to Siliguri and we extended our stay by another day so that we could try again for another vehicle,” said Rupak Haldar, who has come here from Calcutta. The tourists added that they had been charged more for trips to Nathu-la and Chhangu.

Source: The Telegraph