Visa rush continues in Dhaka despite Kolkata hotel crisis
Photo: Agamir Somoy
Crowds of applicants seeking Indian visas in Bangladesh have not decreased despite an acute accommodation crisis in Kolkata, India, triggered by the widespread shutdown of residential hotels following a fire in the New Market area.
Authorities closed hundreds of hotels for failing to comply with safety regulations, creating a severe lodging shortage for tourists.
However, visa hopefuls continue to form daily long queues at the Indian Visa Application Center (IVAC) inside Dhaka’s Jamuna Future Park. On Thursday, long lines of applicants stretched from the entrance of IVAC, looping in a U-turn back toward the center.
Applicants waiting in line explained that they intend to travel to India to visit relatives, sightsee, or receive medical treatment. Hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis travel to India annually for medical care, tourism, and other reasons.
While travel to India dropped significantly after visa issuance was suspended following the July mass uprising, long queues at IVAC became a regular sight after Delhi reinstated tourist visas for Bangladeshi citizens. Media outlets reported that Bangladeshis faced severe hardship due to hotel closures in Kolkata.
Reports indicate that the sequential shutdown of hotels and guesthouses in Kolkata’s New Market and Free School Street areas made finding lodging near hospitals extremely difficult.
As a result, many travelers carrying luggage spend nights beside roads, on footpaths, or under the open sky. Impoverished patients and their relatives arriving for medical care from distant districts of West Bengal face the same plight.
Bangladeshis traveling to Kolkata for medical treatment typically select relatively affordable residential hotels in the New Market area, leaving them severely stranded after authorities closed those establishments over various regulatory non-compliance issues.
However, despite the lodging crisis in Kolkata, the situation has not affected applicant volume at the Indian visa center in Dhaka.
Ashik Aulad, who planned a trip to Darjeeling, told Agamir Somoy, “I have been thinking for several months about going to Darjeeling to see Tiger Hill. I started saving money and preparing mentally since then. Recently, I heard about the hotel crisis. I am thinking of staying near Mall Road. There are several hotels there.”
Meanwhile, Manik Das, who applied for a visa to take his wife to Kolkata, stood in line for nearly 30 minutes before saying, “The main purpose is to meet relatives. It has been three years since I last visited my uncle and aunt. I am going this time to visit them and travel around.”
When asked about Kolkata’s hotel shortage, Manik added, “My relatives have a house there. So, I will stay there. Accommodation will not be a problem.”
Another visa applicant arriving from Gazipur, Md Iqbal, said, “I have been standing in line for nearly 40 minutes. Meanwhile, I got drenched because of light rain. Two people behind me talked to brokers and left the queue. They also told me to apply through a broker, but I did not agree.”
Describing the heavy rush, a security guard stationed at the IVAC center noted, “The crowd has been here all month. Long lines form every day. Chaos sometimes breaks out in the line. Then we have to go and handle the situation.”
The crisis originated on 19 August when a fire erupted at the Shikha Inn hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street in Kolkata’s New Market area.
Following the blaze, the Kolkata Corporation, Kolkata Police, and the Fire Service adopted a strict stance on hotel fire safety standards, shuttering several hundred hotels for failing to properly meet safety regulations and triggering an acute lodging shortage in New Market and surrounding areas.
Meanwhile, after nearly two years, Delhi officially reopened Indian tourist visas for Bangladeshis on 29 June, with the country’s five main visa application centers accepting tourist visa applications starting that day.
