Click to play videoDarjeeling: It's a dampener for the romance of the hills. The wheels of Darjeeling's world heritage-listed toy train have come to a halt. The Darjeeling Himalyan Railways (DHR) have suspended services due to the indefinite bandh called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.
This is the second time since the Gorkhaland movement of the mid-80s that political unrest has affected the toy trian services and the bandh perpetrators had their logic ready.
The leader of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Women's Wing, Yangji Gurung says, "When no transport is plying in Darjeeling, what's the use of running the toy train?"
The stations in the 80-odd kilometer stretch between Darjeeling and New Jalpaiguri are wearing a deserted look. With no tourists to cater to, even the railway staff stayed away from the stations.
The Divisional Railway Manager Katihar, NF Railway, Mehtab Singh says, "We are suffering a daily loss of Rs 1 lakh. We will not risk operations until tourists return. The ball is now in the state government's court."
The present political uncertainty in the upper reaches of Bengal is a big blow to the DHR authorities, who have ambitious plans to make the service commercially viable and keep the romance of the toy train alive.
The country's only world industrial heritage site was already reeling under acute financial loss before services got hit by the indefinite bandh. With the mounting tension in these hills bound to have an adverse impact on tourism, the DHR authorities can only hope that tourist indifference towards Darjeeling won't stay for long.
With inputs from Narayan Sinha in Siliguri and Angshuman Roy)
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