Transport department transports 1,000 plus tourists from Siliguri to Kolkata
The Statesman | 8 October 2025Over 300 mm of rain in 12 hours on Sunday caused landslides at several places in Darjeeling hills and adjoining areas, sweeping away homes, cutting off roads and isolating villages. The landslides may have spared its severity in Darjeeling, but left a trail of disaster in Jalpaiguri and Kalimpong districts. Numerous tourists were left stranded and hundreds of people turned homeless as several hill slopes caved in. As crucial routes Linking Kalimpong to Siliguri and Sikkim were cut off, the North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) on Sunday evening arranged three special super express services from TNCBT to Kolkata to evacuate tourists descending from the Hills and struggling to return Kolkata after reaching Siliguri.
The authorities also made arrangements for passengers reaching Siliguri by late night and leaving TNCBT in the morning hours availing bus services from to Kolkata. Another bus also carried school students stranded in Darjeeling to Kolkata yesterday via a Volvo bus run by the South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC).
According to the managing director of the NBSTC from 5.30 p.m. on Sunday till 3 a.m. on Monday, around 684 stranded tourists were transported to Kolkata in six pre-scheduled buses and nine special buses. Of the total 684, around 480 tourists were carried in special buses deployed by the NBSTC. Later during the day on Monday, the authorities made arrangements to carry 555 stranded tourists in six scheduled buses and six special buses to ferry passengers till Kolkata, according to the MD of NBSTC.
Moreover, the department also deployed two buses for tourists reaching the spot at midnight.
