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| Unrest turning Bollywood's love for Kashmir sour | | | Javaid Naikoo
srinagar, Mar 21: While Minister for Tourism denied ETP claims that there have been large scale cancellations in tourist bookings in the Kashmir valley, Bollywood , which recently rediscovered its lost love with the Valley is also looking for alternatives to Kashmir to shoot their upcoming movies because of the ongoing unrest.
Keeping in view the prevailing unrest in the Valley post Parliament convict Afzal Guru hanging issue, after U.K, now the Australian Government has also issued a travel advisory to its citizens who are willing to visit Kashmir and have asked them not to travel several parts of the State.
The fresh advisory of Australia to its citizens reads, "We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in the Ladakh region of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and to reconsider your need to travel to the cities of Jammu and Srinagar (including the Jammu-Srinagar highway). We advise you not to travel to other parts of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, due to frequent armed clashes, terrorist activities and violent demonstrations."
In the backdrop tense situation prevailed in Kashmir valley, the United Kingdom also earlier issued advisory to its citizens against travelling to Jammu and Kashmir following current unrest in the region.
The Minister for Tourism Ghulam Ahmad Mir reacted immediately after ETP highlighted that there have been 50% cancellations to the tourist bookings to Kashmir valley and he rejected cancellations of tourists to Kashmir despite having produced a data of tour operators who willingly approached ETP to highlight the concern.
It does not stop here according to the reports; the producers of 'Bang Bang' have decided to kick off production of the movie in Kashmir as well.
Earlier, the production of the film was likely to begin in Kashmir in the month of March and was 45 day schedule of shooting. The Director Siddhartha Anand in this regard had recently visited the State and had selected some locations near Pahalgam, However, the prevailing unrest especially the recent attacks on security forces including the Fidayeen attack by militants on CRPF has forced the producers to rethink and preferably change the location.
It is Pertinent to mention here that in addition to the tour operators of Kashmir valley president Kashmir Hotels and Restaurant Owners Federation Faiz Ahmad Bakshi informed ETP that the tourism industry has suffered more than 50% losses because of the ongoing unrest in the Valley, besides the president Travel Agents Association of Kashmir Rouf Tramboo said that bookings have been cancelled as the tourists are apprehensive to visit here under the prevailing environment of strikes and curfews in Kashmir valley. |
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