Weekend tourist rush chokes Queen of Hills

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 20

With the rush of tourists to the Queen of Hills peaking over the weekend, vehicles stranded at many places have become a common sight. The rush of tourists has left the capital choked with traffic jams and parking spaces packed to capacity.

Besides parkings that have come up at The Lift, Chhota Shimla, Lakkar Bazaar and Sanjauli, which has become a pain due to its faulty design (no separate entry and exit points), railway station, bypass near the ISBT, Victory Tunnel, Sanjauli Chowk, BCS, Khalani Chowk and Dhalli Chowk have become major bottlenecks during peak hours.

The problem is alarming and more than 200 police personnel are needed to regulate traffic in the town. Overcrowding, lack of parking space, narrow roads, tourist rush during holidays and long HRTC buses have added to the woes.

“It took me three-and-a half hour to reach home (Chhota Shimla) from Solan on Saturday evening,” said Amit, a local resident. The situation has become so alarming that an additional DSP (Traffic) has been deputed to regulate traffic in the state capital and services of three NGOs have been sought to regulate traffic. “However, the deployment of the police is not a permanent solution and an alternative should be found to decongest the city,” said a source in the Police Department.

Chaman, DSP, Traffic, said 30 per cent of the traffic problem was due to HRTC buses. “We have taken up the issue with the HRTC requesting it to run small buses,” he said.

“Standing orders have been given to ensure that there are no traffic jams even after accidents and the policemen near accident spot should click photographs on mobiles and clear the traffic,” he added. There are more than 80,000 vehicles registered in Shimla and the number of vehicles plying in the town is about 1 lakh.

‘Online portals eating into hoteliers' profits’  

• "Though the occupancy is between 90 to 100 per cent, online portals that have rented flats and are selling it on a daily basis to tourists are eating into the profits of hoteliers and homestays, besides making a dent into government exchequer," said MK Seth, president, Tourism Industry Stakeholders Association.
• "These portals are selling rooms on high rates during the season and throwaway prices during lean days and genuine hotels are bearing the brunt. Moreover, this practice is earning a bad name to the hotel industry in the state," he added.