Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Mar 12: The tourists at ski-resort of Gulmarg complain of unchecked fleecing by shopkeepers and sledge operators.
Anshul Jain and his wife had come from Jaipur to enjoy the snow-covered landscape of the resort. Though the young couple was awestruck by the beauty of the place, but they were dismayed by the approach of the shopkeepers and sledge operators.
“No place on earth can match the beauty of this place. But the people who are associated with the sector are disappointing in their behavior and methods. They don’t know how to respect the visiting tourists,” Jain said.
“Sledge operators and shopkeepers believe in only fleecing us. From the time we arrived here till leaving, these people have been ganging up to overcharge us for everything,” he said, adding it is astonishing that a cup of simple tea and a noodle plate costs 100 rupees here.
Though the Tourism Department has fixed rates for renting winter-wear accessories like jackets, boots, caps, and from tourist guides to ski-equipment, the operators overcharge and fleece.
For different services, ranging from wears to ski equipment, the Tourism Department has displayed the rates on a board outside its office, but the operators do not comply with it.
As per the rate, a jacket and boot can be rented at 60 rupees for a day while ski-equipment ranges from 1000 to 500 rupees. But the visitors said they were charged four hundred for a jacket, and sledge operators asked thousands for each sledge.
A tourism official admitted that they register scores of complaints each day by tourists about fleecing and over-charging.
He said that though there is little action but still the operators don’t mend their ways.
“They are disrespecting and snatching their livelihood from themselves by doing such acts. It gives a bad name to the tourism here,” he said.
The department has deployed tourist police to check the complaints, but it is not acting as a deterrent.
“It needs a strong tourism policy to regulate such misdoings and streamline the sector, and check the bad operators who defame it,” they said.
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