Kalimpong Lack of tourist spots and road conditions upset tourists

Kalimpong|Mukesh Sharma: The hills known for its natural beauty is visited by thousands of tourists every year. However, the road connecting Lubney and other tourist spots of the hills being in a bad condition are creating inconveniences. The tourists visiting Kalimpong are always reported with two complaints. One is the lack in the number of tourist spots and another, the road conditions.“According to natural beauty, this place is wonderful, but there is only handful of tourist spots here”, said a newly married couple from Patna who arrived Kalimpong.They highlighted that there are many spots laying vacant which can be transformed into beautiful tourist spots.It takes almost two hours for the tourists to visit Delo, Science Centre, hanuman Park and the tourist areas around Durga Mandir. It takes another 4 hours to visit Durbin, Kali Mandir, Mangal Dhaam and two to three flower nurseries.After visiting all these main spots at a maximum of 6 hours the Patna couple believed that there is nothing much in Kalimpong. “We loved Delo rest are all religious spots. Also the road connectivity is bad”, they complained.Apart from these issues Kalimpong also does not have a proper resting place or view point from where the tourists can view the whole beauty of Kalimpong. Despite of tourist season being at its peak at present, the road conditions is still bad here.Tourist foremostly have to tackle with the bad condition of NH 31A while on the way to Kalimpong from Siliguri. They are welcomed by muddy and dusty road.Kalimpong is also worse hit by water scarcity. There is no water for the tourists in the hotels.“We had heard a lot about this place. But it’s completely different from what we have heard and imagined”, said the dissatisfied couple.Leaving aside Delo, other tourist spots in Kalimpong equals to zero. This is the main reason why the tourist opts or rather are more attracted towards Darjeeling or Sikkim.Even the hotel association of Kalimpong believes that there is less number of sightseeing places. The tourism in Kalimpong needs to highly focused, they insist.After the formation of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the drives, hotels, businessmen and other individuals and associations related with tourism are of the hope that soon Kalimpong will be developed. In one hand Kalimpong is gearing up for Tea and Tourism Festival, while in the other it is lacking in number of tourists.