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| Turbulent conditions resulted in 80% loss to Houseboat owners of Kashmir in current year | | Govt negligence decreased number of houseboats from 3,500 to 800 | | Javaid Naikoo
Srinagar, Nov 12: As the season of tourism in Kashmir this year started with 70 to 80% cancellation in bookings of tourists, houseboat owners consider themselves as the worst hit victims of the turbulent conditions.
Houseboat owners also accuse government of apathy. "The number of houseboats has decreased from 3500 to 800," they said. According to them, the hanging of Afzal Guru followed by Uttrakhand floods marred the tourist inflow. "Around 80% bookings were cancelled," they said. Talking to Early Times former chairman and incumbent advisor to chairman houseboat owners association, Azim Tuman said that at a time when Minister for tourism of the state and officials in administration spend crores every year for so called tourism promotion of Kashmir by holding rod shows in foreign countries, no work was done in Kashmir. He said that houseboat sector of Kashmir tourism is the worst hit victim of not only the turbulent conditions prevailing in Kashmir but also of the negligence of successive governments.
"I am a witness to the presence 3,500 houseboats within Dal Lake and I am also witness to the Govt negligence which resulted in the decrease of houseboats to 800," he said. Welcoming the High Court direction on sewage treatment plants (STPs) for hotels and restaurants, he said the government had failed to construct STPs for house boats and houses in the Dal Lake. According to the chairman of Houseboat owners association of Kashmir, Muhammad Yousuf Chopri, the reason behind decreasing number of houseboats is the sky touching price of wood needed for constructing a houseboat and added that government is in mood to cooperate and provide the particular wood used in houseboat building and repairing on subsidized rates and easily available in market. He said that state government has been doing paper work only. The rehabilitation of the Dal dwellers has become a tool of money swindling," he said. |
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