Stranded tourists in Haridwar harassed, forced to shout anti-Bengal govt slogans
Kolkata: Some officials of the Tourism department, Uttarakhand government along with some hotel owners forced Bengali tourists who are stranded at Haridwar due to the nationwide lockdown to shout slogans against the Mamata Banerjee government.
This incident has proved that the allegations of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that BJP is blaming the Bengal government unnecessarily are true. Fake news is also being circulated to malign the state government.
Banerjee had even raised the issue during the video conference between Chief Ministers and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. She had said that those who are blaming Bengal are "actually insulting the people of the state".
Senior officials of the Tourism department of Uttarakhand government and association of hotel owners had asked stranded tourist at Haridwar to assemble at the Bishnughat.
"When we reached Bishnughat, we found representatives of both national and local media at the ghat and in front of them, the senior officials of the Tourism department and the association of hotel owners claimed that they have done everything to send back the tourists to their homes at a time when Mamata Banerjee is sitting idle. They raised Mamata Banerjee hai hai slogans and forced us to join them. The electronic media people videoed the whole episode and it was shown in the television from the evening of May 9," said Sanchali Chatterjee, one of the tourists who got stranded at Haridwar because of the nationwide lockdown.
The Tourism department made arrangements for private AC and non-Ac buses and the passengers had to pay Rs 1.40 lakh for the AC ones.
Expressing the harrowing experience, Chatterjee said on May 9, the AC Volvo bus carrying 20 stranded passengers left Haridwar for Bengal. But after travelling for 50 km the vehicle stopped after developing a mechanical snag. When the passengers contacted the Tourism department of Uttarakhand government, senior officials told them that as the bus had left Haridwar they could not allow the bus to enter the area again. The stranded passengers got down from the vehicle and were forced to wait
on the highway. Finding no other option, one of the passengers got in touch with the monks of Ramakrishna Mission at Kankhal who took up the matter with the District
Magistrate and finally the bus was allowed to enter Haridwar again.
The passengers had approached the Bengal government for fresh passes and it was immediately released. Finally, another bus carrying the passengers left for Bengal on May 10 at 10 pm.
It reached Baranagar in northern fringes via Kanpur and Varanasi. The bus was stopped at Asansol where the passengers had to undergo thermal checking. "The Bengal government was very prompt in taking action but we were shocked to see the behaviour of BJP," Chatterjee said.
