Hit by absence of Bangladeshi tourists, worried traders of Kolkata think of wooing local customers

Kolkata: The ongoing crisis in Bangladesh and subsequent non-arrival of travellers from there has led to a blow to the traders of a particular area in central Kolkata, which is popular among tourists from the neighbouring country for shopping and staying.

A section of those perplexed traders are staring at a void, while others are either looking at new avenues or decided to woo back the Indian customers they have lost in the past.

An estimated 15,000 families are now affected by the situation.

According to a trader, in the past, local customers and tourists from other states in India used to visit these areas for various purposes. They were more or less ignored by the traders and their population gradually dwindled over the years.

"Now there is a big question mark. They don't know what to do… they don't know in which direction their business will go since they are dependent only on the Bangladeshis," the National Committee Member of Travel Agents Federation of India (East India), Anil Punjabi, said.

He said the governments of both countries should hold a dialogue to resolve the situation as fast as possible.

With 80 to 85 per cent of Bangladeshis visiting Free School Street, Marquis Street, Sudder Street, Lindsay Street, Collin Lane and the adjoining areas for forex, airline tickets, hotels, restaurants and shopping, businessmen in this region became dependent on tourists from the neighbouring country, Free School Street Traders Association secretary, Hyder Ali Khan, said.

"All of us are in trouble as a result of the crisis," Khan said, condemning the ongoing atrocities against Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh.

"I am 55 years old and grew up in this area. I have seen local people - Hindus and Muslims – shopping before Durga Puja and Eid in the area in my childhood," Khan said.

Gradually everything changed due to the constant wooing only of Bangladeshi customers and therefore Indian tourists and even locals, started avoiding this area as it is full of Bangladeshi tourists, he narrated.

Traders here used to be busy attending to foreigners and this attitude of theirs has now become the reason behind their nemesis.

If the ongoing situation in Bangladesh prevails for some more time, many people will lose their jobs and some people may contemplate dying by suicide as they are about to lose everything they have accumulated so far, he said.

"Both governments need to resolve the issue as soon as possible," Khan said.

He also said that a meeting will be held on Monday on the issue.

The president of the Free School Street Traders Association, Monotosh Kumar Saha, said that he has been running business in the area for the last 25 years. Now, he runs a transport service, a hotel business and a pub.

"We operate bus services from Petrapole border and bring Bangladeshi passengers here, which is very popular with them," Saha said.

On December 6, a total of only 130 people came here whereas the figure used to vary between 5,000 and 7,000 per day, he said.

Businesses of this region cater to all the needs of Bangladeshi tourists whenever they come to Kolkata. Even the tourists visiting other places in India do not go back without coming here, Saha claimed.

"The businessmen and traders have learnt their lessons and are thinking of not depending fully on Bangladeshi tourists in future. Now the task ahead is to woo tourists from other states as well as local people so that they come here like the olden days," Saha said.

"I have told my staff that I won't be able to run the bar and hotel after December 31. If the situation does not improve in Bangladesh, I will have to terminate them," he said.

The attendance in the bar and hotel occupancy has come down to 50 per cent from being always full, he said.

"I have 28 rooms in my hotel and only four rooms were rented on Friday. The rooms used to be full before the Bangladesh trouble," Saha said.

Some of the people here have businesses across the border and supplied goods to traders in Bangladesh on credit. They are worried as large sums of money are yet to be recovered from their partners there, said Punjabi.

Staring at uncertainties, the business community now looks forward to the meeting of the stakeholders on Monday.