Incident near Nainital; they were released after union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar intervened.
A group of 25 tourists from Mumbai and Pune, including children, had to live through a nightmare as they were held hostage at Hotel Sarthak Inn at Bhowali, 12 km from Nainital, by the hotel management to recover pending dues of the travel agency that organised the tour.
The stranded tourists were rescued only after they contacted Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who intervened.
The tourists paid Rs25,000 per head for the trip of Delhi, Nainital, Masuri, Haridwar and Rishikesh organised by Mumbai-based Sachin Travels. The tour started on May 18 and is to go on till May 25.
Rajesh Asgaonkar, a resident of Jogeshwari in Mumbai went on the tour with his wife Shamika and 14-year-old son Jay. He recalled, “On May 18, we reached Delhi from Mumbai. As per the plan, we were to stay in Delhi for a day, but the tour company made us stay there for one more day. When we reached Delhi, there was no tour manager and the staff at the hotel in which we were asked to stay said our rooms had not been booked.
We then contacted the travel company’s head office in Mumbai. An hour later a youth identifying himself as Amit Patil made arrangements at another hotel. Patil became the tour operator after that and finally we left Delhi for Nainital in a bus.”
He added, “The ordeal continued. The bus driver halted the vehicle at an isolated spot in a forest in the evening, refusing to drive, saying the travel agency had not paid the bus fare. The children and senior citizens in the group were scared as the bus remained there for an hour. Somehow, we convinced him to drive us to Nainital, promising that we will talk to the travel company.”
Asgaonkar added, “At Nainital we were told our rooms were booked at Sarthak Inn Hotel on Ramgarh Road, Bhowali. For two days we stayed there without any problem. But on Tuesday evening, while we were having dinner, the hotel owner came and started hurling abuses at the travel agency.
He warned us against leaving the hotel till the travel agency paid the dues. He insisted that we pay the bill, but we refused. When we packed our bags and tried moving out in the morning, he called the police. He said the hoteliers’ union will deal with us if the dues were not paid as the policemen armed with sten guns stood around us. Then, one of the group members called up Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, seeking his help. Later, after Pawar intervened, we were allowed to get out of the hotel.”
When asked if they are planning to go back home, Rajesh said, “No. We now plan to complete the trip on our own.”
Deep Suyul, owner of the hotel, alleged, “The travel company has not paid the money for the past one year and owes us Rs7.82 lakh. I have filed a civil suit against the agency after its cheque bounced. We did not detain the people or call the police. The police came after a senior officer from Maharashtra made a call to senior police officers. In fact, I served breakfast to the tourists free. The travel company duped not only me but also the bus company to the tune of Rs1 crore.”
Inspector N Pant of Bhowali police station in Nainital said, “When we reached the hotel, chaos prevailed and we made security arrangements to avoid any untoward incident. The tourists complained to us only about mismanagement on the part of the travel company.”
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