Lakpa Sherpa, 23, and his ‘friend’ Badal, a three year old yak, are out of a job this summer. In previous years, August brought tourists from across the world to Changu, a large clearwater lake at 12,300 feet in East Sikkim. They took a yak ride for ₹500. But this year, the tourists have not come and about 60 yak owners make not a few thousand, but a few hundred rupees a day.
The India-China stand-off at Dokalam, the tri-junction in Bhutan about 2,000 feet above Changu Lake and the Gorkhaland agitation below Gangtok, which is about 40 km north of Changu, have dried up the tourist flow to Sikkim.
“We don’t have enough food,” said Lakpa Sherpa, desperately chasing stray tourists. Ratiram, from the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) working on border roads, says he has “hardly seen much military movement, but tourists have stopped coming.” Further below is sleepy Dzuluk, where Gopal Pradhan and his family runs Dil Maya Homestay. Usually, all his three home-stays are heavily booked, but not this season. “You are the only person in a dozen rooms,” said Mr. Pradhan, an award-winning home-stay developer on the famed Lhasa - Kalimpong Silk Route.
Empty market
Gangtok’s scenario is grim. Nearly all hotels are empty, and so is Mahatma Gandhi Road market. Satish Bardewa, former president of Travel Agents Association of Sikkim, says things were good before the shutdown in Darjeeling.
“Between January and May, when trouble broke out in Darjeeling and Dokalam, we had the highest tourist footfalls in Sikkim,” he said, citing over one million arrivals. Sikkim’s Tourism Minister Ugen T. Gyatso Bhutia put it at 1.2 million. “But now it has come down to virtually zero,” said Mr. Bardewa.
His father, Santosh Bardewa, a former Additional Secretary in the Sikkim government thinks it would have been “wiser” for the State to escort tourists from Bagdogra Airport in North Bengal to Gangtok, a five hour journey.
“That’s what former Chief Minister Nar Bahadur Bhandari did when the Gorkhaland movement started in 1986. He spoke to West Bengal, and stationed commandos from Sikkim at Bagdogra Airport for protection to tourists,” he said.
The tourism Minister, however, said they are “waiting” for things to normalise. “If the Gorkhaland agitation is solved 70% of the problems will be addressed,” Mr. Bhutia said.
Former Chief Secretary Sonam Wangdi, said even if the Gorkhaland issue was resolved, the lack of a border settlement between India and China will remain “a constant irritant.” “India’s acceptance of Tibet in 1954 through an agreement between India and Tibet has legitimized its border indicated in 1890 Treaty between British India and China and we cannot easily solve it,” he said. The other problem, according to Mr Wangdi, is the “arbitrary drawing” of the India-China border by the British officers which would “keep the problem alive.” Meanwhile, Lakpa Sherpa called up to say that he will have to “get rid of Badal” if the stand-off affects winter tourism at Changu.