A tourist in Darjeeling on Wednesday stood up to one of India’s perennial ailments — the ‘VIP culture’.
Members of the parliamentary standing committee on railways, including MP Radha Mohan Singh and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, reached Darjeeling station on Wednesday for a steam engine ride.
A woman, who only identified herself as a “Bengali from Hyderabad”, protested after allegedly being told that her 15-day-old booking for Wednesday had been cancelled, apparently to accommodate the dignitaries.
She said her daughter wanted a ride on a vistadome tourist coach pulled by a steam engine.
“At 8am, we got a message that our booking has been cancelled. Why? Because VIPs are coming,” she said at Darjeeling station on Wednesday morning, as several others at the station recorded her on their mobile phone cameras.
“Didn’t they (the railway authorities) know in advance that VIPs are arriving? Are they (the VIPs) calling up suddenly with the wish to travel in a Darjeeling train,” asked the woman.
After the commotion, the woman and two of her family members were asked to take the ride in the coach where the VIPs were seated.
The woman’s video clip has since been circulated on social media and is getting raves for her courage of conviction.
“The railways should have arranged for another special train for the VIPs,” said a tour operator from Darjeeling.
A.K. Mishra, director, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), said they had resolved the issue immediately. “The woman and her family members took the ride,” said Mishra.
The DHR official said he was not sure when the cancellation message was sent to the woman but said cancellations do take place and passengers are informed “in advance”.
However, many notables are known to tour Darjeeling during peak tourist season causing much inconvenience to the public.
“Senior police officers divert or stop traffic movement for VIP vehicles. They should solve the problem,” a tour operator said.