Continuing with Commonwealth Games ranting, for all the noise the Delhi Government is making about how it will be a massive tourist event and how there will be a hotel shortage, I’m yet to actually see any news story with evidence for this. In the past six months, Google News has shown me lots of stories about the Delhi Government encouraging people to turn their houses into homestays, but none about hotel room rates actually rising. No stories about special charter flights to Delhi either. The ticket sales have been okay, but hardly runaway hits; and a lot of the tickets being sold are being bought locally. The ticket sales aren’t a runaway sellout success either.
This week there was finally an indication that one particular industry seems to think that there will be a tourist influx with the Commonwealth Games. Mid-Day Delhi reports:
The growers of Malana cream, arguably the best hash in the world, are working overnight to ensure that they are ready to harvest their crop this year in time for the Commonwealth Games, which is being touted by the drug mafia in the hill state as the big ticket event for selling the hash.
A hash grower in Manali told MiD DAY over phone that there have been frequent visits from agents of the local drug mafia, enquiring about the growth of the crop and telling him that he should be ready for an early harvest this year.
“Usually last weeks of September or first week of October is our harvesting season. But they have been asking us to get ready to harvest early this year, as Commonwealth Games are scheduled for the first week of October,” he said, requesting anonymity.
(Mid-Day)
This is the first story of anybody who is not part of the Delhi government actually ramping up production or capacity or whatever for the Games. It’s also so far the only story, which makes me wonder if the growers have been smoking their own fine produce. Or possibly the Mid-Day reporter has. Which, given what we know of the Mid-Day’s choice of stories, is quite possible.
Posted by Aadisht