| Govt fails to upgrade parks, roads in Yousmarg | | |  S Tahir-ul Haq
Early Times Report
BUDGAM, Aug 28: The Centre has left no stone unturned to promote tourism in Kashmir, but the people at the helm of affairs in the state have not maintained the picnic spots and other places to attract tourists.
Sources from Budgam's Pakherpora area informed Early Times that Yousmarg did not attract enough tourists this year, as the local and national tourists who travelled here were not much impressed.
"The parks are not maintained well, the people who were assigned the job to plant flowers and other conifer plants in and around the Yousmarg area have disappointed the tourists very much", said sources.
Tourism is the back of Kashmir's economy, and there are tens of thousands people associated with tourism industry.
"When tourists don't visit the picnic spots, be it any place, Yousmarg, Sonamarg, Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Mughal gardens (in the heart of city) or any other place of their choice, the caretaker of these parks, the pony walls, the local traditional vendors and other field staff suffers like anything, as they remain without salaries for months together," said sources.
Ashiq Ahmad of Pakherpora said that the tall claims of the previous government has fallen flat as they failed to promote the tourism industry in Kashmir valley.
GoI and JK government have spent huge amount to boost the tourism industry in past, and now private sector is also investing in a big way. But after all that they couldn't attract the tourist as was expected by the hotel owners, and other related departments, claims Ashiq a local resident.
Another local resident said that the summer season is about to finish and now people including tourists will hardly visit these places, but the department concerned should introspect that why the tourists don't prefer to visit here.
However, sources further said that the department of tourism is trying hard to attract more tourists to the Kashmir valley, as they are organizing a mega Kashmir festival in the coming days.
"To organize the festivals and other events is not enough to show the world what Kashmir's beauty is, but to provide the facilities to them matters a lot, and department has to work hard for that," sources added. |
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