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| Haseeb Drabu drops a bombshell, tourism players aghast | | 'Kashmir is not safe for locals, how can it be safe for tourists' | | Jehangir Rashid
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Sept 1: Efforts of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to bring tourists to Kashmir valley are not likely to bore fruit since one of his cabinet colleagues dropped a bombshell during a high profile tourism conference held here few days back.
Speaking during a tourism conference, Finance Minister, Dr. Haseeb Drabu said that Kashmir is not safe for locals and how can it be safe for the people who come to Kashmir from different parts of country or from abroad. The statement virtually bamboozled the participants taking part in the conference and they were wondering about the words uttered by a senior minister of Peoples Democratic Party and Bharatiya Janta Party Government in the State.
The conference was organized by Punjab, Haryana and Delhi (PHD) Chamber of Commerce and it drew participants from different parts of country. The Finance Minister's statement virtually came as a shock not only to the local tourism fraternity, but also to the ones who came to attend the conference from different states of India.
Drabu also advised the local tourism players not to carry out the travel and trade marts in the country and abroad as the same according to him would not lead to any fruitful result. He said that lot of money gets wasted in organizing the travel and trade marts and as such the practice needs to be stopped.
The 'astonishing' statement from the Finance Minister has sent shock waves among the tourism players of Kashmir. The tourism players said that they were hoping for a positive response from the Government in bringing tourists to Kashmir, adding that the statement of Drabu would dealt a severe blow to the tourist inflow to Kashmir in the coming months more so during winter.
"The Chief Minister as the Tourism Minister of the state himself visited Mumbai, Delhi and some other places in order to instill confidence among the people that all is well in Kashmir and it is a safe tourist destination. However, the Finance Minister who considers himself as an intellectual has spoiled the party by issuing irresponsible and non-sense statements," said a group of tourism players while talking to Early Times.
The tourism players said that Drabu should have thought twice before issuing a statement since the same would send a wrong message to the people living across the length and breadth of the country. They said that if the local tourists are not enthused to come over here how one can expect the foreigners to visit Kashmir. They demanded that Mufti should step in and control the damage caused by the statement of Finance Minister.
"Drabu is the Finance Minister and he has no jurisdiction whatsoever to talk about the inflow of tourists to Kashmir. He should limit his focus to the financial matters overall and since the conference was about tourism he should have talked about financial matters related to tourism. Instead he chose to issue a statement that has already created ripples among people more so among those associated with the travel and tourism trade," said the tourism players. |
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