Boarders of a Kalimpong school, returning after vacation, wait with their luggage in the town. The Morcha allowed the students to return to their hostels. (Chinlop Fudong Lepcha)

June 10: Hundreds of tourists spent last night at the bus terminus in Siliguri and the New Jalpaiguri station.

“It was past 5pm yesterday when our Gangtok hotel told us about a police directive asking tourists to leave,” said Satyaranjan Hazra from Calcutta. “It was raining and with great difficulty we got a vehicle that brought us down at 12.30am.”

The six-member family, which includes two children, spent the night at the bus stop. “There was no food. We ate the puffed rice we were carrying. At 4am, I went around Siliguri on a rickshaw looking for accommodation, but in vain. We finally managed bus tickets to Calcutta,” Satyaranjan said.

The Hazras had train tickets for Thursday.

Hannah, her boyfriend Sacha and eight others from London had planned to spend a week in Darjeeling. Forced to cut short their stay, they reached Siliguri at 2.30am. “The room rates in the town were crazy. One place asked for Rs 3,000 for a tiny room,” she said.

While her friends headed to Nepal, Hannah and Sacha spent the night on a footbridge at the station. “Many were sleeping there,” Hannah said, waiting for an evening train to Varanasi.

The secretary of the Siliguri Hotel Owners’ Association, K.C. Ghosh, said: “We have asked hotels to do all it takes to provide shelter to tourists. They have been asked not to over-charge.”

He added that Siliguri, which could handle no more than 25,000 tourists a day, had had at least 70,000 to 80,000 tourists since last night.

“We tried to accommodate as many tourists as we could at Pantha Niwas and the Youth Hostel. We have asked the food plaza at Kanchenjunga Stadium to stay open at night,” said mayor Bikash Ghosh.

The tourism department gave helpline numbers: (0353) 2511974 and (0353) 2516571.

The Northeast Frontier Railway ran a special train to Sealdah today and the North Bengal State Transport Corporation plied 10 buses to Calcutta instead of the usual three.

In Calcutta, people scurried to cancel train and air tickets. An Air India spokesperson said the Bagdogra flight left with only 38 passengers today after 72 cancellations.

Jet Airways said all incoming flights were full.