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| RESIDENTS START FEELING THE PINCH OF SHORTFALL IN TOURIST TRAFFIC | | | Srinagar, July 23, : Abdul Rahman Lone, a ponywallah from a hamlet near the shrine of Baba Rishi here, returned empty handed to his home after day long toil on Sunday in the tourist resort of Gulmarg waiting for customers to make an earning. The lush green slopes in this meadow of flowers that have been attracting many tourists have turned their face following a grenade explosion on July 12 injuring 13 tourists.
The tale of Lone is no different from many others with him who return to their respective hamlets around this tourist resort without making even a meager earning of the day. What the middle aged Lone earned on Sunday was a little amount of Rs 30 for a horse ride to one customer from the shrine of Baba Rishi on way to Gulmarg in the morning. "That amount has already been spent on the fodder for the pony" early in the morning, Lone said. He lamented that there were no customer for him in the tourist resort where he had the whole day’s wait, this being an unusual Sunday for him. It had been an immediate fallout of the grenade explosion, first of its kind in the 17-years-long militancy, that came as a shock to the residents, mostly dependent upon tourism throughout the year here.
Not only the ponywallahs, but the hoteliers and small shopkeepers, who have been making their livelihood in this resort throughout the year, have been hit hard by the sudden decline in the flow of tourists. "Things have not been favourable this year", laments Bashir Ahmad, another ponywalls. He adds that the series of incidents this year in Srinagar have also adversely affected the flow of tourists to other places including Gulmarg. The tourist flow to Gulmarg has been slashed by about 50 percent due to the grenade explosion earlier this month. At least 11 tourists have died and 60 others have been injured in the series of grenade explosions targeted at tourists in the valley this year.
The Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said that 50 to 60 percent tourists have returned back and tourist cancellations to the extent of 80 percent were reported. "The forces who are bent to wreck the economy and progress of Jammu and Kashmir particularly Kashmir valley through their nefarious designs of terror by terrorizing innocent civilians and guest tourists are real enemies of people of Jammu and Kashmir", he commented. Mr Azad said that even militants had gone to the extent of killing tourists resulting in complete devastation to the prestigious tourist industry. He said when lakhs of people were destined to visit the valley, these enemies of Kashmiris, had forced to divert tourists towards other tourist destinations, he said. He said that it was on the demand of ponnywalls, shopkeepers, handicraft artisans, hoteliers and houseboat owners that state government was endeavouring hard to bring tourists in large number to Jammu and Kashmir but direct attacks on their vehicles through grenades and bullets have brought tourist industry to grinding halt.
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