Tribune News Service
Indervir Grewal
Rourkela, January 17
Almost all the major hotels in Rourkela are within a 100-metre radius, along two roads near the railway station. Walk into the bylanes and one would find smaller hotels that resemble homestays. For most of these hotels, business is booming, largely because of the World Cup.
An industrial city, Rourkela doesn’t get many tourists. “Most of our rooms are booked for company guests,” said Bunty Das, the receptionist at a hotel.
However, tourists are streaming in for the World Cup. “We have 82 rooms, and around 50 are occupied by guests who have come for the World Cup,” Das added.
Tourists have come from other parts of Odisha, from major cities such as Bengaluru, New Delhi and Mumbai, and also from abroad. “We are enjoying the World Cup but we haven’t gone around the city much, just the hotel and the stadium,” said Avtar Singh, who has come from England. “There isn’t much to see or do here. We did go to the gurudwara on Sunday,” the septuagenarian added.
Business opportunity
The hotel industry isn’t the only one benefiting from the World Cup. The Odisha government has hired private companies to provide the workforce, transportation, security, signage and catering. Hosting such a large-scale event in a city like Rourkela can have logistical issues. While the government has hired multiple local travel companies to provide the vehicles and drivers, in many other areas the government has had to hire companies with headquarters in Bhubaneswar.
The security company is from Bhubaneswar but has employed local men as bouncers, one of them said. The photographers hired by the tourism department are employees of a company based in the state capital. The catering at the stadium and the World Cup Village is provided by the Taj Group, which does not have a hotel in Rourkela. The workforce has been assembled from different places, said one of their staff at the stadium.
The World Cup might have raised the profile of Rourkela, but the city has been expanding over the last few decades. “From a radius of 20km, the city has expanded to 40km,” local journalist Susanta Behera said.
There are still housing colonies coming up around the outskirts, but the city doesn’t have scope for more expansion as it is running out of jurisdiction, said Behera.
Even the development process is providing business opportunities to companies from other cities. An interior designer, who specialises in homes, and her six-member team from New Delhi have made a Rourkela hotel their base as her company is working on a project in the city.
Eyewash
The World Cup has helped in the beautification of the city. “I am happy that the roads have been re-laid because there used to be so many potholes,” said Tahsim Ejaz, who drives an autorickshaw. “They have also rid the city of all the garbage,” he added.
When passing a water body, called the DAV Pond, Ejaz pointed out that it used to be a garbage dump and was cleaned before the World Cup.
However, most locals realise that the changes have been largely superficial. Due to a lack of tourist places, there has been a clear effort to generate excitement by setting up photo opportunities – the government has built statues, painted murals and put up signage like ‘I love (depicted by the heart emoji) hockey’ all around the city. “There’s nothing for tourists here. Only the market area,” said Ejaz.
Ejaz pointed at a stretch of the wall along the ring road, saying that it was built recently to hide the slum behind. “The homes were pushed further back from the road before the wall was built and painted over,” he added.
Many locals are going along with the show of extravagance out of indifference. Others are staying quiet about the real issues because “it is about the state’s pride”.
“I am still waiting for my payment of Rs 12 lakh from the government,” said one of the providers of cars for the event. “Had it not been about my state’s pride, I would not have provided the vehicles. I am waiting for the World Cup to end before raising the issue,” he added.
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