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| Allotment of tickets for heli-services during Amarnath Yatra criticized by tour operators | | 'Influential, politically backed tour operators get tickets' | | Jehangir Rashid
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Apr 14 : The allotment of tickets to the various tour operators for operating the heli-services during the Amarnath Yatra by Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has come in for sharp criticism from the stakeholders as allegations of foul play have come to the fore.
Sharing views with Early Times, a group of tour operators said that the allotment of tickets is done well in advance with the meeting in this regard reduced to just a formality. The tour operators said the tickets are always allotted to the 'influential' tour operators with the less known tour operators being denied the opportunity.
"Over the past few years the same tour operators bag the tickets for operating the heli services for the Amarnath Yatra. The tour operators are either influential or have some political backing. These people eat into the interests and benefits of the tour operators who could have made their mark by operating the heli services during the Amarnath Yatra," said the tour operators.
The tour operators while demanding that the allotment process should be made transparent said that the same is full of loopholes as on date. They demanded that Governor Narendra Nath Vohra who is Chairman SASB, should personally intervene in the matter so that the allotment of tickets is done in a fair and transparent manner. "A top notch officer of SASB calls the shots as for as allotment of tickets is concerned. He considers himself above all and the irony is that his decisions are never challenged. The tickets are usually allotted to favourites of a top notch former Kashmiri Pandit bureaucrat, former union minister of Bharatiya Janta Party and a top tour operator of Kashmir having his office on the Residency Road in Srinagar," said the tour operators. It would be in place to mention here that SASB allots tickets to some tour operators who operate the heli-services to the people during the Amarnath Yatra desirous of availing this facility. The heli-services are operated from Panjtarni on the Pahalgam route and from Baltal on the Sonamarg side.
Irony is that none of the travel agencies owned by the Kashmiri Pandits get any allotment and they are always forced to play second fiddle to the 'influential' and 'politically' backed tour operators. Members of the Kashmiri Pandit community are fumed that they are in no way involved in the process of providing up to the mark services for the people who pay obeisance at the Amarnath cave.
Sources said that the tour operators belonging to the Kashmiri Pandit community are thinking of approaching the people at helm at both the centre as well in state so that the 'injustice' meted out to them is stopped. These people may even go to the office of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in this regard in order to make their point forceful.
"Kashmiri Pandits played a very important role when the Amarnath Yatra was restarted in 1996. The members of this community were included as members in the SASB as soon as the Board was formed. However, as on date there is no Kashmiri Pandit in the SASB and this speaks volumes about the interference of outsiders in managing the affairs of annual Amarnath Yatra," said sources. |
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