Sikkim loses Rs 7 crore a day

Gangtok, June 13: Sikkim is losing Rs 7 crore a day because of the shutdown in the Darjeeling hills, according to calculations based on a survey conducted by the state department of economics, statistics, monitoring and evaluation in February.

The director of the department, S.D. Tshering, said the survey was carried out during a two-day bandh called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in Darjeeling in February this year. It calculated the daily financial loss suffered by various sectors in Sikkim because of the shutdown, taking into consideration only those data that could be accurately quantified.

While the survey put the daily loss at Rs 5.95 crore in February, the current figure has been calculated as around Rs 7 crore a day taking into consideration the increase in taxi rides and hotel reservations during the tourist season.

The figure mainly includes daily revenue loss suffered by the state government in terms of value-added tax and sales tax (1.54 crore), business establishments (Rs 1.65 crore), taxis plying on the highway (Rs 75 lakh), goods carriers (12 lakh) and various industrial and manufacturing companies (Rs 64 lakh).

“We are cornered. While politics is leading to bandhs and counter bandhs (in Bengal), Sikkim is being affected for no fault of its,” a businessman in Gangtok said.

Residents, too, are worried as the prices of vegetables and some essential commodities have shot up by 30-40 per cent as stocks dry up in the state.

Sikkim has also been forced to ration the distribution of LPG and fuel from various depots and petrol pumps. The LPG stock of Sikkim is likely to be exhausted tomorrow, said officials, if supplies do not resume.

Sikkim remained cut off from the rest of the country for the fourth consecutive day today following the bandh in Siliguri, which was lifted only in the afternoon. Few vehicles plied to and from Siliguri as most drivers preferred to stay off the roads following reports of Sikkim vehicles being attacked by protesters in the plains.

Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling has sent an SOS to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh informing him of the hardship the state is facing and asking for his personal intervention.