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| Kashmir's 'tainted' faces are Tourism Advisory Board members | | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, Nov 19: The recently constituted Tourism Advisory Board has drawn flak from Kashmir 's business fraternity as the businessmen say that only "tainted" faces from the Valley have been "secretly inducted" into the board.
The state government neither sought any nominations for selection for the 23-member board nor any consultations were held with the business fraternity. Even president of the bodies like Kashmir Hotels and Restaurants Association has not been inducted into the board.
The business players allege that three of the hoteliers from the Valley selected for the board are involved forestland grab and poisoning of pine trees for construction of hotels in Pahalgam and Gulmarg areas during the previous Omar Abdullah-led regime.
"There are already court cases registered against these so-called hoteliers who actually happen to be beneficiaries of the turmoil in the Valley. The businessman, who destroyed a considerable portion of over 100 kanals of forestland in Gulmarg to construct a hotel which was inaugurated by Omar Abdullah, is one member while another member has been equally responsible for destruction of forestland in Pahalgam where he literally poisoned pine trees through chemical injections to construct a hotel," said a reputed hotelier, adding that "cases stand registered against them."
"Those who didn't mind to criminally exploit forest wealth for personal gains won't mind to sell off these resorts in the garb of being members of the Tourism Advisory Board," the stakeholders said.
The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries has expressed dismay over the "clandestine" manner in which the Tourism Advisory Board was created. KCCI's secretary general Faiz Bakshi in a handout expressed strong reservations over the issue. The KCCI said the inducted members "are non-experts, drawn from different backgrounds instead of experts with proven record of performance in the field."
"The Board should have been created after consultation with local experts and tourism stake-holders , which however has not been done," Bakshi added. The KCCI also expressed concerns over the need for the constitution of the body. "The purpose of formation of the Board in not amply clear also to what extent it is going to increase the growth of the tourism to state when dearth of high end Tourism infrastructure is not a priority area for promotion of tourism in the state," the KCCI said. "It was also felt that some of the members taken on the Advisory Board have conflict of interest and are therefore not expected to deliver judiciously keeping in view the broader interest of Kashmir as a whole," Bakshi added.
The KCCI said it would call on Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to get the body reconstituted.
Interestingly, just a day ahead of the KCCI resolve, its president Mushtaq Wani, who is close to some PDP ministers, had hailed the constitution of the board but was made to eat a humble pie by his executive body members who snubbed him for his having "tried to appease some ministers". As already reported by Early Times, Education Minister Naeem Akhter, who aspires to be taken as the Tourism Minister, allegedly resorted to "lot of interference in the induction of Kashmiri hoteliers enjoying good relations with him into the Tourism Advisory Board." |
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