Shut markets greet tourists in Himachal's Kasauli

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, June 20

Closed markets greeted tourists in the cantonment town of Kasauli today as markets continue to be shut for the weekends in the state.

Though the state government has permitted shops to open for a limited duration from Monday to Friday, they continue to remain closed for the weekends in view of the pandemic.

A large number of tourists, who had come from Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana, for a day’s trip to Kasauli, were disappointed. Owing to its proximity to the plains, Kasauli is the most preferred hill station among the tourists who usually spend a day strolling on the famous Mall Road and return back refreshed.

No rush on weekdays

It is strange that when the tourists visit Kasauli at the weekends we are unable to open shops and when we opened the units during the weekdays there were fewer tourists. A trader

Rajiv Kumar, a Chandigarh resident, said, “My family was looking forward for this weekend trip to Kasauli but the closed markets have left us disappointed. Taking a break from the hustle and bustle of cities, Kasauli provides a pleasant respite but with the markets closed the usual charm was missing.”

The tourists, who were seen strolling on the Mall Road, found little to munch. The children and elderly were particularly inconvenienced as tourists had to go to hotels in and around the town for lunch. Tourists also missed the much-savoured street food of this quaint hill town which is served by various shops on the Mall Road.

With shops selling souvenirs too being closed, the tourists were deprived of the opportunity to shop for the locally made gifts.

In view of the pandemic, some hotels were particularly careful in not allowing walk in guests for lunch further disappointing the visitors. “Though 10 to 15 walk-in guests usually turn up for lunch during the weekends we stopped it in view of the pandemic and only in-house guests were given lunch,” informed manager of a hotel.

Even traders in Kasauli who were keenly awaiting the tourists are disappointed. Aman Gupta, a trader said, “It is strange that when the tourists visit Kasauli at the weekends we are unable to open our shops and when we open our shops in the weekdays there were fewer tourists. The state government should consider opening the shops during the weekends, may be for a limited duration, as business has suffered a lot since April.”

Police staff was specially deputed to man traffic at Garkhal junction where five roads converge. Being the key road connecting Kasauli, little traffic was visible after lunch time because tourists preferred to head back in the afternoon as the markets wore a deserted look.