JOY ROY CHOUDHURY – Kolkata
Three departments in West Bengal government have joined hands to ensure hassle-free stay for the thousands of inbound tourists, both domestic and foreign, who are scheduled to visit the Dooars in North Bengal during the upcoming festive season. Rachhpal Singh, the state tourism minister; Gautam Deb, North Bengal Development minister and the chairman of North Bengal State Transport (NBSTC), and Hiten Barman, state forest minister, held a high-level meeting in Kolkata recently, to start an initiative to give the tourism infrastructure in North Bengal a facelift ahead of the holidays. “Information centres would be opened for the benefit of tourists from the different states and from abroad. We will increase the number of information help desks as compared to last year,” Deb told Express TravelWorld. “The help desks would be opened at Bagdogra airport, New Jalpaiguri railway station, Darjeeling, Malbazar and Alipurduar junction. These help desks will provide the tourists with government approved tourist maps, addresses of tourist centres and contacts for transports. These will help tourists avoid touts and middlemen,” he added. According to Deb, more buses would be introduced from NBSTC depots to help tourists reach their destination. A meeting will be soon held among the different prepaid taxi associations to determine the right and reasonable charges for rides, it was learnt. “Besides the prepaid taxi owners, we will also hold talks with budget hotel owners so that tourists do not have to pay extra to put up at a place,” he added.
