Residents make a beeline for water being supplied by tankers. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, April 6: Budget hotels in Darjeeling are on the verge of closure with water crisis in the tourist town forcing a lull in business in a season when tourism reaches its peak.

Most low-end hotels are unable to accommodate tourists to its full capacity since their tankers are empty.

These hotels charge anything between Rs 150 and Rs 450, including food, and manage to make profits only when they are filled to their capacity. Demand for accommodation leaps during the tourist season, which extends from March to May.

According to Amit Das of Hotel Suravi at Rockville, “It is difficult to fill the hotel as there is no water available in the town. Buying water is not viable for small-time establishments since the costs cannot be recovered. It would be very expensive for us to buy 2,000 litres of water for Rs 600.”

Hotel Suravi houses 17 rooms and can accommodate 70 individuals at a time. “At present, I have only six tourists. Even though I run a travel agency at Calcutta, the bookings have gone down after the water crisis started. Most of the tourists are avoiding Darjeeling this time when it is usually packed to the gills.”

Hotels like these depend mainly on the profits raked during the two tourists season, the other extending from October to mid-December, to maintain the hotels throughout the year.

B. Bomzon of Hotel Mall Glory near Chowrastha said: “My hotel has a capacity of 40 clients but this time I do not have the confidence to accommodate more than 15 since I cannot promise them water.”

Bomzom is at present purchasing around 4,000 litres of water daily to run his business but maintains it is an expensive decision.

“With all the hotels demanding water at the same time, the tankers most often than not fail to deliver the water on time,” he pointed out.

“I have had to slash tariffs but that has not stopped the tourists from moving over to Gangtok even though they had booked rooms for three or four days here. Income has dried up along with water,” he added.

Rina Roy, who is in the marketing section of the hotel, said: “After the snowfall in December, tourist bookings for Darjeeling doubled that of Gangtok or Pelling. We were hoping for a good season but water played the spoiler,” she said.

Roy feels Darjeeling would attract more tourists than Gangtok at anytime of the year, if the water crisis and the solid waste management problems were streamlined.

The problem, however, is restricted only to the budget hotels as most high-end hotels in the town have a dedicated truck to ensure a steady flow of water.

Suraj Chhetri of Fortune Resort Central, said: “We have a truck dedicated to supplying water and so we did have a single cancellation in our bookings.”

Deepak Gurung, a councillor of the DGHC said: “We have started pumping water from the Senchal Lake and the problem will be solved soon. A new pump has also been installed at Khongkhola.”