Three new T's of Darjeeling, Tourists, Traffic and Tension.

As one of the most renowned hill stations of India, Darjeeling and its neighboring regions witness large amounts of tourists every year. The Darjeeling hills (along with the Kalimpong district) have a very small area of 2092 km2 with a population of 1.5 lakh people as of a 2011 census. The number today is said to be closer to 2 lakhs. That leaves us with a population density of 800 people per km2 and almost 1600 people per km2 in the urban areas, which is unsustainable in itself. However with the arrival of almost 6 lakh Indian tourists and 30,000 foreign tourists each year, the state of the Hills gets very overcrowded. Locals describe it as "khutta teknay jaga hudaina" or there isn't even space to place a foot in the market areas. Tourists from all over India flock to the Hills to witness its pristine beauty but it is at the expense of the comfort and daily lives of the residents of Darjeeling. 

The troubles of the Hills have already been discussed at length. The extent of the matter and the plight of the citizens have been well documented in this fantastic piece by the Darjeeling Chronicle. As mentioned in the article, the traffic situation of Darjeeling is already a mess and a precarious situation to begin with, without the addition of tourists. Various issues plague the streets and roads of the Hills. From poor maintenance of roads, unlawful encroachment of roads leading to narrowing of highways and streets, VIP culture and paramilitary vehicles, lack of parking spaces, lack of traffic police intervention, numerous bottle neck points and numerous other problems have crippled the traffic of Darjeeling. Therefore we have a dilapidated structure to begin with, upon which we add another 6.5 lakh tourists each year. And then we are shocked when it causes problems. 

From 1840 to 1852, the British had overtaken Darjeeling from the King of Sikkim. The then British resident of Darjeeling, Dr. Campbell, saw the influx of Nepali immigrants as the town rose in population from 100 people to 10,000 in a matter of 2 years. To combat this, massive infrastructural projects were undertaken such as the construction of houses, a bazaar, a jail and roads. Other utilities and amenities were also constructed, such as waste management systems and drainage systems. However these roads and infrastructure were constructed for a population of 15,000 at the time. Dr. Campbell had never intended this infrastructure to be used for a population of almost 2 lakh people and an additional 6 lakh tourists. However with the exception of the Senchal Lake water project and the Rohini road construction, Darjeeling has not seen any other major infrastructure projects after Dr. Campbell's initial efforts. 

This severe lack of infrastructure and the negligence of the Governmental bodies of the Hills has led to numerous issues faced by the public, the most troublesome being the traffic. With tourism being the only source of income for the people, most families choose to keep a car and run it as a taxi. Therefore the number of cars in this small town has increased exponentially in the past few decades. However nothing else has increased along with it. The number of roads remain the same. The width of the roads remain the same. The condition of the roads remain the same. The number of parking spaces remain the same. So the problem of traffic was inevitable for the people of Darjeeling. And with such a small area to work with, not many of these problems can be fixed. 

In the article, the Darjeeling Chronicle discusses many solutions that can be taken to fix the issue. Many of them are quite applicable and would yield good results if applied religiously. Improving the traffic culture by increasing cooperation and consideration and observance of traffic rules is the foremost step. Infrastructural changes such as widening of roads, construction of pedestrian paths and parking spaces too shall go a long way to solve the issue. However in the long run, such solutions can only do so much. The limited space available makes it almost impossible to implement proper infrastructural changes. And improving traffic culture too can only help as long as the traffic itself remains sustainable.

Therefore the question arises, how are we to solve this issue that remains almost unsolvable. 

Its simple. We need to decrease the amount of tourists that come to Darjeeling without letting it affect our economy. And the only way this can be done, is by transforming the tourism industry to play in margins rather than numbers. Meaning that instead of increasing the number of tourists that visit Darjeeling, we must increase the quality of tourists that visit Darjeeling and decrease the number of tourists who visit us. 

This can be achieved when we as a collective increase the level of amenities and services that we provide. We need to drastically improve the quality of everything, from Hotels, to restaurants, to eateries, to taxis to everything that we offer as services to tourists. It is a difficult decision to make as it is much easier to get 5 more tourists to come to you than invest in your services to attract more wealthy tourists. However it is the only route we have left. A town of 2100 km2 cannot sustain a crowd of 6 lakh tourists each year. We need to decrease that number drastically without letting it affect our economy. It will be a slow and gradual process that will take time. 

It is a very controversial opinion and solution. It will restrict the availability of Darjeeling and lead to many people of poorer backgrounds being unable to visit Darjeeling. It will also lead to a top heavy tourist industry with the rich getting richer and the poor having difficulties in overcoming the change. It will be a lengthy process that takes years to implement and a lot of hard work in researching and experimenting with techniques. It is a massive project to undertake that will take efforts from every strata of society. However in the long run, it is the only way we can save our town from the problems it faces today and create development.

Written by Ariyaan Moktan.