APPRECIATE AND CONTRIBUTE INSTEAD OF CRITICISING

Letter:
This is in response to the letter sent by a group of ‘tourism stakeholders’ (A Rejoinder to Mr. Bardewa and Mr. P.D. Rai) published in NOW! dated 20 Oct 2012 where they have raised their objections to statements made by Mr. P.D. Rai and Mr. Satish Bardewa. The objections are lopsided and utterly myopic at best! Whatever Mr. P.D. Rai and Mr. Bardewa said regarding the impact of the Damthang incident on tourism is best left to their wisdom. But allow me, as a very concerned Sikkimese (without any raato batti or VIP gaadi aspirations or pro or anti sentiments and without any chamcha-giri) to present some facts without any kind of distortion. Some rationale on part of the readers is expected when we discuss such issues.
Roads in Sikkim seem to have become everyone’s pet subject. We always complain about them to everyone and anyone. We have this uncanny knack of blaming the State Government for everything that goes wrong. Why do we forget that there are other factors which are responsible for failures and delays?
The total length of roads in Sikkim was 1800 kilometres in 1994. Today the total length has increased to 3700 kilometres. Sikkim has the highest road density in the country. The state has also bagged an award for this feat! Why are we so eager to portray only the negative aspects? It won’t harm anyone if we for a change, project and acknowledge the good things.
We blame the State government for the bad roads. But how come we conveniently ignore factors like monsoon, difficult terrain and other natural phenomena that make construction and maintenance of roads comparatively difficult. The September 18th earthquake is a case in point. We all know that the long spell of monsoon delays all work relating to roads. And we cannot blame any person or organisation by any stretch of imagination for this! Restoration and up gradation of important roads are on the anvil. Money has already been sanctioned for the purpose. Once the work commence, why can’t we be vigilant and ensure that the work is done well instead of crying hoarse about the road condition. As part of the civil society, why can’t we make an effort to monitor the quality of work? We prefer to criticise because it takes less effort than to appreciate.
I have travelled to most of the tourist destinations in the state both in peak and off seasons. But I do not remember having spent a single day or a night in candlelight, either in Pelling or Ravangla.
And for the record, Ranka Tourist Centre was envisioned by the State government and not by the Centre.  The State government has created innumerable tourist infrastructure whether it is Char Dhaam or Statue of Guru Padmasambhava. Sikkim now boasts of a wonderful amalgamation of both natural and manmade tourist attractions. On the one hand we have the world’s third highest mountain and on the other hand we have the Chaar Dhaam which has already bagged the award for the most innovative tourism product.
And one of the persons who has written the letter apparently owns a hotel in Gangtok. I want to ask him why he spent so much on constructing a hotel if he knew the tourism scenario was so grim in Sikkim. Or he had the noble intention of offering free accommodation to tourists as a philanthropic act? Or was he willing to suffer losses but construct the hotel at any cost. If the latter is the reason, then I salute his spirit!
Today, there are more than 50,000 vehicles in Sikkim today against 7,000 in 1994. We all have gone through the ordeal of not finding a taxi during tourist season. Isn’t this an enough indication of the growing and flourishing tourism in Sikkim? Home stays and village tourism have generated ample job opportunities for the youth. One home stay owner from west Sikkim was even featured recently in the Guardian magazine as one of the best in the tourism sector.
The two day bandh was called by All Sikkim Democratic Labour Front (ASDLF) and not Sikkim Democratic Front.  I assume that the writers know the glaring difference between the two! Losses may have been there but nobody was caught off guard as the bandh had been announced in advance. Tourists were not stranded anywhere. Nothing untoward happened. Moreover, as Sikkimese, we must put the interest of our people first. If my memory serves me right, the bandh had been called against private companies in Sikkim who were meting out unfair treatment to the locals. Isn’t the bandh justified given the fact that our people’s welfare was at stake?
If we are really so concerned about the stakeholders in the tourism sector incurring heavy losses, then why don’t we stop the trend of leasing out our hotels and restaurants to outsiders and collecting a hefty lease amount annually. Why do outsiders run our hotels, mess with them, damage our assets and laugh all the way to the bank?
Why do we relate loss only to money? What about the loss of our environment and the fragile eco-system. What about the losses that our youth incur when the manager, the bell boy, the receptionist, the cook and the waiter are all outsiders? What about the losses that we incur when other regional cuisines replace gundruk, kinema and chhurpi? We incur loss every time we fail to promote our culture, tradition and heritage. We incur losses when we fail to convince tourists to try the best of Sikkimese cuisine. We fail when we do nothing to make tourists aware about the do’s and don’ts while in Sikkim. We fail when a tourist litters Tsomgo Lake. We fail when tourists take pictures on the sly in restricted areas.
Success is always equated with hard work but our problem is that we hardly work! Every hotel owner I know of is looking or has looked for a party from outside who is interested to take his/her hotel on lease. If we run our hotels ourselves, if we take care of our infrastructure and assets, if we develop a sense of belongingness and affinity for the state, then Sikkim will be better than Switzerland.
But we also need to remember that the developmental era of Switzerland started more than three hundred years ago while the journey of development and paradigm shift in Sikkim started barely eighteen years ago. But with this kind of negative and regressive attitude, Sikkim will take ages to be at par with Switzerland. If we want to see Sikkim as the Switzerland of the East, everyone must contribute towards this vision. The State government alone cannot work miracles. Development will remain a distant dream if we do not work collectively with common goals.
We need to be the change you want to see instead of seeing everything with a cynical view!
The issue of Service Tax has also been raised in the letter. But we need to understand the fact that tax is a way of contribution towards the state or the country. Dutiful citizens will never complain about having to pay taxes as it brings a sense of ownership and belongingness. Taxes are in the interest of the state which ultimately is in the interest of its people.
If you are truly concerned about Sikkim, then why don’t you come to the fore and promote Sikkim as a tourist friendly state given the unrivalled peace and security that it offers to everyone. Not only tourism, you could do your bit in every sphere.
Why is it so difficult to talk about good things?
Democracy calls for equal responsibility and equal opportunity. So make the most of both! The state creates opportunities. You can take a horse to the water but you cannot make him drink!  I hope you got my point!
Jiwan Gurung, Chakung, West Sikkim [recvd on email]