Tourists who were stranded in Puri because of the flood return to Calcutta on a state transport department bus on Tuesday. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

A forced extension of the Das’s annual holiday in Puri took the joy out of it. The family from Chinsurah was stuck for seven extra days in the seaside town after train services were disrupted because of damage to the tracks in the flood. On reaching Calcutta, they breathed a sigh of relief.

Most of the 742 people who returned to Bengal from Puri on Tuesday on buses sent by the state transport department felt the same.

The return journey — via Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Balasore and Kharagpur — that normally takes 10 to 12 hours, stretched to 20 hours because of bad road condition.

“We faced several problems during the trip and longed to be home. First, we ran out of cash. The kids fell ill on the way back after having food in a dhaba,” said Runu Das, the mother of Pushpak and Adrisha.

Their father Indrajit, a businessman, said the manager of the holiday home they were staying in had cut the room rent by half when he realised that they were facing a cash crunch.

Other families like the Sens of Belghoria and the Basus of Salt Lake, who took the buses home, also said the managers of their hotels and guest houses in Puri were very helpful.

“The manager of the hotel we were staying in not only reduced the room rent but also said we could send him the money after reaching home,” said a tourist.

The passengers were all praise for the transport department for sending the buses. The journey back cost Rs 255 per head, including food.

S.N. Pal, the managing director of Calcutta State Transport Corporation (CSTC), said of the 16 buses that left for Puri from Salt Lake stadium to bring back stranded tourists, 14 had returned. “Two of our buses are coming via Burdwan, as some passengers are from the district.”

There are no plans to send more buses to Puri as most tourists were back, he added.

According to a South Eastern Railway spokesperson, repair work was on between Narayangarh and Bakhrabad railway stations in West Midnapore. The rail link snapped because of a flash flood in the river Keleghai.

“The Howrah-Puri-Howrah Express is running on a diverted route since Thursday. The delay is of about four hours. We will take a call on resuming train services on the affected stretch on June 29 after reviewing the repairs,” said the spokesperson.