The halt in issuing passes online for tourists to enter prominent wildlife habitats in north Bengal has emerged as a fresh poser for the tourism sector.

Tourists pointed out that the absence of online booking made it difficult for them to enter the forests on a safari. Private resort owners in the Dooars are apprehensive that such a situation might affect the footfall of tourists.

When chief minister Mamata Banerjee was on a trip to Alipurduar in January, she lambasted the forest department for charging entry fees from tourists visiting wildlife sanctuaries.

“This made the department stop collecting entry fees from visitors. As of now, free entry passes are issued. But unlike the earlier arrangement when tourists could buy the entry ticket online, the passes are issued only in offline mode,” said Sanjoy Das, who is associated with the Jaldapara Tourism Development Welfare Society.

He pointed out that tourists had to stand in queues to collect the entry passes for Jaldapara and Gorumara national parks, which are in Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri districts, respectively. In Jaldapara, around 300 visitors can avail a car safari every day, while another 72 can enjoy an elephant safari. On the other hand, in Gorumara, around 1,000 visitors can go on a car safari.

“The inflow of tourists is on the rise, and many of them are not getting the entry passes. Earlier, they could book online, but now, the option is unavailable. It is disappointing that they could not enter the forests despite touring the Dooars,” Das said. Another resort owner said a tourist from Delhi had reached Madarihat on Sunday to visit the Jaldapara National Park, after visiting the Kaziranga National Park and the Manas National Park.

“He did not get the entry pass and was annoyed. Later, he left for Bhutan. If such a situation persists, we doubt whether tourists will visit the Dooars in the days to come. The forest department should launch the online facility immediately,” said the resort owner.

Sources said in the past couple of days, the situation had reached such an extent that police had to intervene when tourists held demonstrations in front of the counter where entry passes for Jaldapara were issued.

Foresters have, however, expressed helplessness. “We issue a specific number of tickets for the car and elephant safaris. If the number of visitors is more, we have nothing to do. We all have to wait for the commencement of online booking,” said Parveen Kaswan, the divisional forest officer of the Jaldapara wildlife division.

In the Buxa Tiger Reserve, where there is no restriction on the entry of vehicles and people as multiple locations are in the reserve and on its fringes, foresters have decided to issue entry passes against the visitors’ photo identity proof. Unlike Jaldapara and Gorumara, there is no restriction on entry at BTR through Rajabhatkhawa (that is on the outskirts of Alipurduar).

Earlier, entry tickets were issued, but now, we only issue passes,” said a forest department officer. “To keep a record of the visitors, we have been issuing the passes while collecting their photo identity proofs since yesterday (Sunday),” he added.