Twenty private buses carrying the stranded tourists arrived in Kolkata late on Sunday night. Those who managed to return felt that they were indeed lucky. Roy and Mondal recounted their ordeal to The Indian Express.
Roy (55), a resident of Entally, had gone for a short trip to Puri. She was due to return on Thursday but as the trains to Kolkata were cancelled, she had to extend her stay. “I had planned to come back early and had not taken much cash, as I had already booked everything. But the extended stay did put me in a tight spot,” said Roy.
She recounted the horror of many other tourists stranded in Puri. “One of them staying in a hotel with his seven-member family, including his aged parents, was asked to vacate from the hotel. He had no money to pay them,” Roy said.
Mondal, a supplier of office equipment and a resident of Ramrajatala in Howrah, had gone to Puri with his wife and four-year-old son.
He, too, had a tough time as he had little cash. The tourists alleged that the Orissa tourism department did not help them at all. There were no buses arranged by the government. “I had to shell out Rs 1,500 per ticket to get a seat in a private bus,” said Mondal.
The Orissa tourism department, however, claimed to have requested the Puri Hotels’ Association to allow stranded tourists some concessions. “We have also set up a counter in Puri. Anyone facing a problem can contact us,” said Rabi Narayan Nigam, director of Orissa tourism.