As soon as the polls are over, the crowd is returning to Shailshahr, hoteliers are hoping for tourists in the summer

Voting ended on Thursday. Before this, for a month Shailashahr Mall, Chaurasta to Chiriakhana Road were all busy with processions, meetings, public meetings. Even though the campaign stopped at 6pm on Tuesday, all was quiet. Vehicular movement was limited. But after the end of the vote, ‘Queen of Hill’ is in normal rhythm. Although the number is less, tourists have started to gather in the mall again from Friday. Even though the temperature rises in the plains, the climate in Shail is quite pleasant. Sometimes foggy, sometimes sunny, sometimes drizzly. A group of tourists from foreign states are enjoying the snow.

Vijay Khanna, president of Darjeeling Hotel Association, said, “There will not be much influx of local tourists until the polls in the state are over. Now more tourists are coming from Bihar, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh.” They are walking around. Spending time in the mall. Momo, thukpa, shafale, and hot tea stalls at Chaurasta, Mall Road, Bhutia Market and Gandhi Road have started gathering since Friday. Dedar sells local Churpi, Cel Roti, Alur Dum. However, the trauma of the vote is still not over. Addition and subtraction numbers are going on to see who will win. During the campaign days, Bimal Gurung, Aneet Thapa, Ajay Edwards were often seen in public relations and processions on the streets.

Since Thursday’s polls, everyone has been spending the day in a happy mood at their respective party offices. Even trying to communicate by phone is of no avail. However, hill dwellers do not have much headache about them for now. Summer is in full swing now. Everyone looked at the tourists. Sundas, a momo seller on Gandhi Road, said that it is getting hot in the plains and now is the peak season in the hills. State Eco Tourism Committee Chairman Raj Basu said, “Bookings depend a lot on when state schools have summer vacations. The tourists coming now are from Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Delhi. So far Darjeeling Hills has 25 per cent bookings from non-state tourists.”