An early rush of tourists to Kashmir this season is again pushing airfares out of the roof making air travel unaffordable for locals, particularly students and those who need to travel out for medical treatment. Syed Asma reports.
Ahmed (name changed) is desperately waiting for the airfares to get a bit easier so that he could take his mother to Delhi for treatment. He says most of his father’s saving was spent on his sister’s wedding. “We are left with only a portion of his (his father’s) savings and gratuities, a lot of which is and would be spent on my mother’s treatment,” says Ahmed.
Ahmed’s mother had cataract in both of her eyes. Though considered a minor surgery but on her it wasn’t successful and she lost eyesight completely sight in one of her eyes and is left with little sight in her other eye.
A doctor they consulted later suggested to Ahmed to take his mother to Delhi for treatment. “But high airfares will make her wait at least for 15 days. I am afraid this delay will cause more damage”.
Owing to the tourist rush a one-way air ticket to Delhi now costs around Rs 17,000.
Ahmed’s mother is prone to infection and cannot travel by bus to Delhi. “We really can’t decide how we will manage.”
In fact traveling to any place in India from Srinagar or vice versa is getting more expensive now. Each day at least four to five patients are seen at the Srinagar airport who go to Delhi and other places for treatment, says Rouf Ahmed Tramboo, a tour operator and the president TAAK.
Some of them can wait for tourist off-season. But patients suffering from ailments that need more urgent treatment can’t delay their visits and most of the time they don’t find themselves in a position to travel by road.
“Last year I had to bear the heat of Delhi in the month of June, when I had undergone a surgery. I was asked to bed rest completely, so couldn’t travel by bus,” says Shahida (name changed).She needed Rs 30,000 to travel to Srinagar by air.
Locals, mostly patients and students, are the worst hit. Aaliya (name changed) pursuing Bachelors degree in engineering at Pune was called home on emergency basis. Her father wasn’t well.
“I too had a heart attack when I confirmed my tickets paying Rs 20000,” laughs Aaliya. Earlier she used to pay Rs 7000-8000 for a flight between Pune to Srinagar.
Students say they usually do not prefer to visit home in during tourist season.
The “uncertain road” connecting Kashmir to rest of India isn’t a comfortable drive but these days air travel isn’t a convenient option because of skyrocketed ticket prices, says Nazir Ahmed Bakshi, MD Shiraz Travels.
Kashmir is fast becoming a popular tourist destination for Indians and the influx of tourist is increasing each year, government figures show, pushing airfare up.
“During the tourist season airfare is high but this year it started from March only which means worse is yet to come. Till last year airfares used to go up after May,” says Rouf Ahmed Tramboo.
Tourist operators say that many of their bookings have been cancelled due to high priced air tickets. “An Indian tourist will now prefer a more economical trip to Singapore or Malaysia rather than to Srinagar,” said Rouf.
Tour operators say more than the airlines it is the Indian tour operators, famous travel agencies having big names that are responsible for the skyrocketing airfares.
“They have grown into big mafias. They in advance book tickets in bulk to different tourist destinations of different airlines and later sell them at double or triple the original price,” says a tour operator.
Addition of more flights can also help to reduce the airfares a bit. Srinagar airport receives 19 flights each day, which is not considered much for a tourist destination. A small city like Indore, Madhya Pradesh receives about 39 flights each day.
Bakhshi says, considering the Srinagar airport already outdated, that more flights means more bays and more space to place them which we do not have. He blames government’s shortsighted policy for this poor infrastructure and for not having more flights to Srinagar.
Bakshi suggests making Kashmir a year round tourist destination, which it has the potential of, like Kerala. According to him this will help maintain a moderate rush of tourist round the year and will check the airfares as well.
