Our Bureau
Pine City lacking in efforts, zeal to re-invent itself as a major tourist destination
GANGTOK/ SHILLONG: Even though Meghalaya strives to attract more tourists with each passing year with an aim to make tourism the mainstay of the State’s economy, a visit to another smaller Northeastern state reveals that much needs to be done in Shillong for the Pine City to become a major tourist destination.
The northeastern state of Sikkim, with its below par road conditions, fares much better when it comes to inflow of tourists as compared to Meghalaya. Even though its proximity with West Bengal works to the advantage of this tiny northeastern state, nothing can be taken away from the degree of hospitality it has to offer.
A visit to Gangtok, Sikkim’s capital, speaks volumes of the tourist-centric nature of the place.
This scribe, who happened to visit Sikkim recently, observed a few things that have helped Gangtok become a hit among tourists.
The capital town of Sikkim is cleaner than Shillong and the main commercial area in Gangtok, MG Marg, is devoid of any trash and random hawkers. This is in stark contrast to the setting at Shillong’s prime commercial area, Khyndailad, where the presence of scores of hawkers, beggars etc., create a chaos of sorts. The temporary extension of shops that spill over to the road also adds to the congestion in the area.
It was observed that the MG Marg has dedicated cleaners who sweep the entire stretch several times a day. Besides this, the Sikkim Government has ensured strict implementation of the “Clean Sikkim” concept and people are not even allowed to smoke in the open in Gangtok.
The MG Marg also has a dedicated control room to ensure that no untoward incident takes place in the stretch since the place is mostly thronged by tourists.
“To be honest there is no comparison between MG Marg and Police Bazar. People can relax in MG Marg, sit or walk there whereas in Police Bazar there is hardly any place for people to sit. Besides, MG Marg is a well organized stretch,” a tourist from Shillong said to this scribe.
“The warmth and hospitality of the people and the absence of the bandh culture also ensures that Sikkim stays dear in the tourists’ hearts and minds,” observed another visitor from Shillong.
One of the locals in Gangtok, who spoke to this scribe, said that the people of Sikkim realise that tourism is their mainstay and hence give tremendous importance to it.
His comment was reciprocated by an incident which is not commonly heard of in most parts of the country.
Some tourists, while speaking to this scribe, recollected their experience while coming from Changu Lake which is around 40 km from Gangtok.
The vehicle in which the tourists were travelling broke down in a forest area. What was heartening, though, was that they did not need to plead for help. Instead, all the other commercial vehicles plying along the route offered help and eventually all the passengers were accommodated in one vehicle or the other.
However, one problem that ails Gangtok is the lack of suitable accommodation since most of the hotels and guest houses remain packed throughout the year.