Air fares shoot after Assam floods, landslides snap road links

GUWAHATI: Air fares have gone up two-fold between Guwahati and Silchar after rail and road travel got disrupted because of landslides at multiple locations because of incessant rain over the last few days.
For a one-hour direct flight between state capital Guwahati and the biggest town in south Assam Silchar, the online travel companies on Tuesday evening were charging Rs 11,739 per ticket which used to be between Rs 3,500 and Rs 4,000 in normal times. On Friday, there was no change in the price but on Saturday there was a marginal drop to Rs 10,639. The Guwahati-Silchar and Silchar-Kolkata routes are well connected by air with daily flights.
The airlines blamed it on dynamic pricing and expressed their inability to curb the fares. “Tickets available in lower price slabs get sold out faster. That is the probable reason for this hike. But some of the ticket booking agencies may be taking advantage of the crisis situation and inflating fares through online booking,” said a senior official of an airline.
BJP MP from Silchar, Rajdeep Roy, tweeted on Monday, “With railways & roadways disrupted due to heavy rains and landslides I m stunned to see #silchar-#guwahati airfare reach 31000/- for a 25 min flight for 300km ! This issue of ticket pricing needs to be addressed immediately!” The fare Roy mentioned is for multiple-stop flights.
Road transport remains severely affected in about 11 locations on NH6 in the East Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya connecting Guwahati with Silchar. In the road route via Dima Hasao, too, landslides have occurred at numerous locations on NH27, which is another route to reach South Assam. The NH6 route was partially restored on Monday but again got closed on Tuesday morning. However, transportation is yet to be opened through Dima Hasao.
The NF Railway also could not commit when train lines would be restored through Dima Hasao, which is the only rail link connecting Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Silchar in South Assam.
“In 58 locations, damaged rail tracks have been reported between Badarpur and Lumding. All these breaches are in the hill district of Dima Hasao. Even as restoration was done in 11 locations by Monday, 10 more breaches were reported,” NF Railway CPRO, Sabyasachi De, said.