Mumbai:
Forget about getting a ticket for the high-profile Indo-Pak match in Mohali, getting a place to stay in Chandigarh, its adjoining city, seems near impossible now. The hotels are chock-a-block, there are no night check-ins within 40 kilometres of the match venue, Mohali stadium. If you are lucky enough to get one, you have to cough up 10 times the actual price.
During this crunch time, ordinary households have come to the rescue of both Indian and Pakistani fans. Most families in and around Chandigarh are offering bed-and-breakfast facility, a small lodging establishment that offers night stay and breakfast, to sports enthusiasts at a nominal fee of Rs 1,500-2,000. Punjab's capital is bursting at the seams and hospitality businesses have never had it better, thanks to the crucial cricketing encounter this week. The city is teeming with fans from both sides of the border, waiting with bated breath to watch the semi-final on March 30.
Around 8,000 Pakistani nationals have already crossed the border, and the number is expected to swell to 10,000 by D-Day. Around 5,000 Pakistanis have reportedly been issued visas and will travel to Chandigarh by special buses through the Wagah border. "With the match fever spreading fast, almost all the rooms in the hotels in Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali have already been booked by the team officials, mediapersons and cricket fans.
"However, if any Pakistani guest approaches me, I will surely make some arrangements for him," says hotelier Manmohan Singh, who is also a member of Chandigarh Hoteliers' Association. Security is going to be extra tight anyway because Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistan counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani are likely to watch the match with their wives. There are many other VVIPs on the guest list. "There is a strong possibility of the President, some chief ministers, Union ministers and host of other VVIPs and celebrities coming over. The security paraphernalia, especially the elite SPG (Special Protection Group) personnel with the Prime Minister, will need several rooms. People who had booked the rooms earlier might have to look for other accommodation," said an official of the Chandigarh administration.
Since five-stars and budget hotels are overbooked, travel agents are compelled to divert the rush of last-minute hopefuls to the city's outskirts. Parwanoo in Himachal, which is about 40 km from the match venue, is where spectators are now headed. "There are no rooms till March 30. All the rooms have been booked in Chandigarh as well as Mohali. If someone is ready to stay at some distance we can arrange accommodation for them. Once the Indo-Pak match gets over, rates will come back to normal," said Kamlajeet Singh, a tour operator in Chandigarh.
Sama Abedi, one such cricket enthusiast who has come all the way from Jammu and Kashmir to watch the match managed to get rooms in Chandigarh but only for March 27 and 28. I had no idea that there would be such a rush. For a small room, I had to pay Rs 4,000 and for March 29 and 30 the same room would cost me Rs 9,000. I had tried all possible options but found this to be the cheapest."
"I can't believe we've become a tourist hotspot. I don't remember the last time I saw so many faces, especially those of foreigners, here. We came to know that there was a scarcity of places for people to stay at, so we thought why not jump into the action and extend a warm welcome for our folks from the other side!" says Col NK Rawat, a resident of Sector 64, Chandigarh, who is waiting to receive his first guests.