It was sometime last month that I realized that I may in fact have quite a lot of leave balance by the end of the year. Well, that made me plan for a trip. And since Sarah didn’t have that luxury, I decided to go solo. So that’s how this trip came into existence. I looked for various options to travel and the North-East India was something that was always on my radar. After doing quite a bit of research, I decided to narrow it down to a trip to the Arunachal Pradesh.
I took the early morning direct flight to Guwahati from Chennai. It was around 8am when I collected by luggage from the belt. Since I required to get an Inner Line Permit (ILP) for my travel to Arunachal, I decided to get that from the airport counter itself. Now, there are many ways to get this ILP. In Guwahati, you can get it from the Arunachal DC office (this will be cheaper at Rs. 100/- but may take time to process) or get one from the airport counter for Arunachal tourism (it costs Rs 450/- but will be processed within 10 min). Since I did not want to waste my time waiting for my ILP, I decided to get one from the airport itself. However, since the Arunachal tourism counter opens only by 9am, I had to wait inside the terminal for the same.
After producing my Govt. ID in original and couple of passport photos, I was issued an Arunachal ILP at the Guwahati airport counter. While there are airport buses that ply to the city area (Paltan Bazaar), since they weren’t so frequent, I decided to take the Uber. In less than an hour, I reached the ASTC bus stand at Paltan Bazaar. After having a quick breakfast, I went to get the bus ticket to Tezpur. There was one A/C bus service between Guwahati and Tezpur (11:30am) and thankfully, that was in fact the very next service. So I bought the ticket and got into the bus.
The bus was very comfortable and I settled to my seat listening to music on my phone. The bus goes through beautiful countryside and after around 4hrs of travel, we crossed the mighty Brahmaputra to reach Tezpur town. I got down at the Tezpur ASTC stand and booked my shared sumo taxi (Rs. 350/-) to Bomdila for my journey tomorrow. Since my sister-in-law, Rebecca is a doctor at the Mission hospital in Tezpur, I got a guest room booked there for my stay tonight.
Note: ILPs can also be obtained from Tezpur. Based on the information that I got during the trip, if you are traveling in a group and have hired a private taxi, the best option would be to get the ILP from the agents at the Arunachal border in Bhalukpong. Through the agents, you will receive the ILP in an hour. But this will not be an option if you are traveling in a shared taxi.
berT
15.11.2016
Location: Tezpur, India
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11 responses to “Day 1: Getting the Arunachal ILP from Guwahati”
Do we have a direct bus from tezpur to tawang
I didn’t find any bus operating in this area. Only bus I saw plying was Guwahati to Bomdila. From Tezpur to Tawang, there are ASTC & private shared sumo.
Hi Berty,
I am planning to travel to Tawang in May this year. However, I am reaching Guwahati on a sunday. Any idea about getting the ILP on Sunday? Can we get an Uber from Guwahati to Bomdila?
Regards,
Prashant
Sunday might be a bit tricky. You can try at the airport. If its not available, travel to Bhalukpong. You will get the permit in an hour through agents at Bhalukpong on Monday morning for sure.
Uber is available in Guwahati. But am not sure if they would be ready for such a long outstation trip. But local taxi agencies are plenty.
Thanks for the info. I am planning to reach Guwahati on a Sunday and try for the permit. If I get so, then take a taxi and move to bhalukpong the same day. Otherwise stay at Guwahati and get the permit next day. One more thing, how safe is to travel to China border with family? My wife would be accompanying me.
If you are planning to travel by taxi, I would recommend taking the permit at Bhalukpong. Permits at Guwahati take longer except that in the airport. I would say, get the taxi, and the driver will guide you better (maybe stay in tezpur Sunday night and reach Bhalukpong by morning for permit, etc.)
China border is perfectly safe. No issues at all. It is a very calm and quiet border.
Hi All,
I would be reaching Guwahati at 8 pm on Saturday.. would the ILP counter be open at that time? If not, will I have to wait until Monday?
That would be really sad actually! I am intending to travel to Upper Siang ..if someone can throw some light it would be great..
Regards
I believe the ILP counter at the airport would close by that time. If you are hiring a private taxi, maybe the taxi guy can find you agents who can get this ILP. Do remember that ILP can also be obtained in places like Delhi, Kolkata. That could be one option. Another option that I can think of is find a local tour agent by searching online and get them to make an ILP for you that you can collect at Guwahati. Hope that helps.
Hi berT,
Thanks for your quick reply.. I am in Mumbai actually and hence wont be able to get ILP from Delhi or Kolkata..
I am trying out online ILP and also searching for some agents.. skeptical about online since I dont have any references in AP.. Heard they reject online application is references aren’t given..
It would be quite depressing to spend two days at Guwahati..and even in Guwahati I heard i might get the ILP the next day.. So i might end up getting the ILP on Tuesday..
Yes, online ILP didn’t work for me either.
Regarding ILP taking a day to process in Guwahati, thats the cheaper option (not the one at the airport). There is one more option to get it within an hour at the Bhalukpong border through agents (assuming you are hiring a taxi).
For now, I suggest you to go through the agent route. Contact any tour operators in Guwahati who should be able to get the ILP done for you.
True I heard airport ILP takes an hour.. But I’ll be reaching Guwahati at 8 pm on Saturday and to avail Ilp I’ll have to stay put at airport for 2 nights 🙁
Not able to get in touch with any tour operators.. Let me search further.. i won’t be taking a private taxi as am low on budget..
Intending to take a train to dibrugarh and then to Pasighat and upper siang..