By Aafaque Hussain
Visiting the prominent tourist spots in the city is an expensive affair for hundreds of tourists who visit the state to enjoy its hospitality and fascinating beauty.
A visit to one of the prominent tourist locations “Elephant Falls” revealed that the business of duping tourist is in a bad state with products in the tourist spot being sold at almost double the selling price. A simple glass of milk tea and red tea is sold at Rs 10 while the all time favourite junk food like chips is sold at Rs 15 even though the printed price is Rs 10.
The problem of over charging is prevalent not only in Elephant Falls but even in the picturesque Sohra and Mawkdok.
As hundreds of tourists pass by, almost all of them stop at the Mawkdok Bridge to enjoy the scenic beauty of the area and there are many road side stalls who charge exorbitantly. Even here, a small packet biscuit costing Rs 5 is sold at Rs 8 or Rs 10.
When questioned about the unreasonable price of food items and the reason behind selling packed products at a high price, a stall owner said that they have to charge more since they have to bring these products from Shillong. The same trend is also practiced in Shillong View Point where a cold drink ‘Frooti’ whose printed price is Rs 25 is sold at the price of Rs 30 or 35. The trend of increasing the price of almost everything is evident in almost all the tourist spots.
During a visit to the view point, it was seen that many tourists were not happy with the over charging trend as some of them felt that there should be no over charging in a tourist location and many of them were even arguing with the stalls.
In addition, people visiting either “Elephant Falls” or Shillong Peak at first will have to buy entry ticket which costs Rs 20 and a vehicle fee at Rs 10 and even taking a camera inside the location will cost Rs 10 to each and every tourist. So after shelling out so much money at the entrance, reasons become limited as to why food items in the area have to be bought at double the price.