Lucknow shelves travel plans amid nationwide unrest

LUCKNOW: Nationwide resentment over the amended citizenship law and proposed register of citizens seems to have taken a heavy toll on travel plans of Lucknow residents.
If four leading tour operators are to be believed, nearly 150 flight tickets for Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Guwahati have been cancelled in the past two days. Similarly, over 500 train tickets for various destinations, including different cities of Bengal, Maharashtra, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Assam, have been cancelled.
Vishal Kakkar who runs a travel agency in the city said: “Our clients have cancelled nearly 40 air and 80 railway tickets in 48 hours.Some of my fellow agents are facing a similar predicament.”
Sadar resident Abrar Hussain said no one was willing to take the risk amid violence and arson over the new law. “I had booked five tickets for my family to Ahmedabad, where my nephew’s wedding is scheduled in the first week of January. We shelved travel plans following reports of violence and cancelled tickets,” he added.
Airline and railway officials confirmed cancellations, but refused to commit on numbers and reasons.
GoAir spokesperson Bakul Gala said an exact cancellation figure couldn’t be given because it was constantly changing. “Safety of passengers is our priority. So, we may cancel flights too, like we did in Delhi following the unrest and fog,” Gala said.
Spokesperson for Air India Dhananjay Kumar said, “Cancellation of tickets is obvious, as there is unrest shown by media channels in different cities, but I can’t confirm the number.”
Chief public relations officer of Northern Railway Deepak Kumar said there was “the possibility of cancellation following unrest, but it is very difficult to give exact reason”.