Tour operator, control rooms not able to answer our queries: N 24 Pgns tourists’ kin
Times of India | 28 August 2026
Kolkata: Communication has been lost with several tourists from North 24 Parganas following the disaster in Nepal, triggering growing anxiety among their families.
A 66-year-old woman from Barasat, Sushmita Bhattacharya, has been missing since Wednesday after reportedly being swept away by the flash flood in Nepal. Her family has been unable to trace her despite contacting the Kolkata-based tour operator, the state administration and Nepal authorities. Her husband Tapan Bhattacharya and son Sunit are now spending anxious hours waiting for any news of her.
Sushmita lived with her husband in a third-floor flat at a residential complex in Pioneer Park, near Colony More in Barasat. The couple’s only son, Sunit, is a software engineer and lives in the Kasba-Bosepukur area.
Sushmita, a schoolteacher in Duttapukur, had travelled to Nepal with Kolkata-based tour operator Chalo Jaai Travel Club. Nepal-based ‘Samrat Tours’, an associate of Chalo Jaai, was responsible for taking the tourists to Kathmandu, Manasarovar and Kailash. She left for Nepal with the group on Aug 21. She had travelled alone on several earlier tours as well.
She last spoke to her husband and son on Sunday after offering prayers at Pashupatinath Temple. The family could not speak to her on Monday or Tuesday as she was busy with the tour. On Wednesday, the group was at an immigration centre near Kerung on the Nepal-Tibet border when a flash flood swept through the area.
Tapan and Sunit became deeply worried after watching television reports about the flood in Nepal. “After receiving news of the disaster, I contacted the Nepal-based tour operator as well as Bhawani Bhavan, but could not get any information,” he said.
Tapan also expressed concern over the lack of a satellite phone with the Nepal-based tour operator. “The tour operator in Nepal does not have a satellite phone, which is why we are unable to get any information. It is surprising that such a large tour operator does not have a satellite phone,” he said.
The family has also contacted the Kolkata-based tour operator, its Nepalese associate and the police control rooms in Bengal and Nepal, but has so far received no information about Sushmita.
Meanwhile, retired schoolteachers Swapan Mandal and his wife Mou Mandal, residents of Khan Bahadur Road in Ward 10 of Basirhat Municipality in North 24 Parganas, are also reportedly missing.
According to family members, the couple had travelled to Nepal around seven days ago and were scheduled to proceed towards Kailash. However, following the disaster in Nepal, their family has been unable to establish any contact with them. With both their mobile phones switched off, concerns over their safety have intensified.