Expensive Gangtok

A fourth-class worker from Delhi, who recently was in the town hesitatingly, confided to me: ‘Saab Gangtok toh Delhi se bhi aageh hai. Yeh Jagah toh bahut hi mehenga hai. Kaise reheteh hai log yaaha?Kaha se aata hai inke paas itna paisa’ I patted his back and informed him that Sikkim is a Himalayan state and is located at remote corner of the Country. As a result, the economic burden of carrying goods from Siliguri or elsewhere to this place becomes exceedingly high and has to be borne by the customers, both rich and poor. Unfortunately, Sikkim was ravaged by natural hazards at that point of time and we were at the height of environmental insecurity. As a consequence, Gangtok had become one of the most expensive towns in the country then. I was, however, not convinced by my own answer. Monsoon apart, even during normal period Gangtok is a notoriously expensive place to live in for the ordinary/poor souls. It is much expensive than its counterparts- Kalimpong Town and Darjeeling Town. The usually certified carrying charge and monsoon theories apply to Kalimpong and Darjeeling as well. Then how on earth is Sikkim, and more specifically Gangtok, such an expensive place to live in?

Although I got opportunities in the past to associate myself in the preparation of a number of policy documents- including State Development Report and Nathula Trade Report- of the state with Prof. Mahendra Lama, I could hardly find any time to understand the internal socio-economic and market dynamics of Sikkim in general and Gangtok in particular. Now that I have shifted my base from Delhi to Gangtok I have also turned out to be one of the victims of expensive Gangtok. Here, I briefly attempt to locate some of the forces operating behind the unprecedented rise in consumer and other necessary goods in Gangtok. It is based on my discussion with the vendors and general public in Gangtok, Kalimpong and Siliguri.

First, in Siliguri majority of the wholesalers, shopkeepers and such other business people look forward for at least one Sikkimese customer in a day. According to them, one customer from Sikkim in a day is enough for them to extract the average profit of a day. They recognize Sikkimese customers by their attitude and body language. Immediately the price of goods is hiked and no bargaining is allowed. Similarly, the daily wage/contract rate of informal labourers based in Siliguri or nearby areas is different from the local rate if they are hired for construction works in Sikkim. They have a preconceived notion that Sikkim has plenty of money and people here readily agree upon the rate quoted by them without bargaining and irrespective of whether the rate is as per the prevailing market rules and regulations. Such situation subsequently impacts the market in Sikkim.

Second, the impression of the people in a place like Kalimpong about Sikkim is that, Sikkim has enough financial resource but the market there is poorly regulated. Sikkim is relatively expensive than Kalimpong also because of the fact that everything has to be purchased by Sikkim. Kalimpong supplies much of the eateries like vegetables, meat etc on a regular basis to Sikkim. According to them, people in Kalimpong work much harder than their counterparts in Sikkim because they have nothing to expect from the State or DGHC. However, such is not the case in Sikkim. People look forward to the State in Sikkim for resource every now and then. There is a kind of dependency syndrome prevalent in Sikkim which has made people lazy. Consequently, majority of the goods are purchased from outside and that ultimately impacts the market in Sikkim.

Third, the impression of the mainstream traders, about the local people, who dominate the market of Gangtok, is similar to that of the traders in Siliguri. Locals in Gangtok do not bargain or examine the quoted price of the goods and thus allow the vendors to take advantage of the situation. Recently, I was at Jorthang in connection to the Monitoring and Evaluation Training to the government officials of Sikkim. I was surprised to see a lady purchasing a frooty that had well passed its expiry date. When I questioned the Bihari shopkeeper he informed me that it wouldn’t matter to the people here as they seldom bear the burden of checking the price tag or expiry date of the consumer goods. The demanded price is paid by majority of the customers without any wrangle. Another important thing that customers rarely bother about while purchasing is asking for valid receipts, thus doubly benefiting the vendor.

The crux of the problem that I could locate after my discussion with the relevant persons is the ‘indifference’ among the customers. No body cares what the hell is going around in the market. People are too busy constructing their buildings, majority of which are against urban planning norms of the hills, and buying boleros. They have no time to question how on earth one LPG cylinder is costing them Rs. 600, why a kilo of vegetable is costing more than Rs. 50, why are they paying Rs.10 to print a page, how come a spiral binding is costing them Rs. 100 when it is Rs. 30 a little down in Siliguri. Unless we raise such questions and seek for a solvable solution, the market inflation in Sikkim will steadily maintain its climb.

By Indian standard, Sikkim definitely is a rich state but everyone does not have enough money here. Sikkim, like many other mainstream states, still accommodates a sizeable number of farmers, daily-wage workers, contractual workers, muster-roll workers and such other people who are not economically secure and have to work very hard to sustain their livelihood. It is this group of people that are ruthlessly impacted by the market inflation and not the indifferent rich ones. How does a muster roll driver who earns less than Rs. 3000 a month survive in a place like Gangtok when a kilo of bean costs him Rs. 90 during monsoon? It is high time we deconstruct the carrying charge and monsoon theories and go for an austere ‘consumer forum’ that periodically checks/examines the market in Gangtok [and Sikkim at large] and makes it competitive and comparable with similar other class two towns.

**Published by Sikkim Express, November 1, 2007**