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| 'Messy' conditions greet tourists at Rly station | | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, May 3: Each day several thousand tourists, pilgrims and daily passengers arrive at Jammu railway station enroute their forward journey to perform holy darshan inside the cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi and also to carry forward their visit to several other tourist destinations.
Ironically, the City of temples greets them in an unbecoming manner. The moment they step out of the main portico and climb down the stairs , they are greeted with heaps of garbage, stinking and overflowing drains and poth holed road within the railway station premises.
As if this much is not enough to give them a rude shock ,dozens of beggars, enjoying the patronage of local mafia gherao them ahead of start of their joyful journey.
For those who are regular visitors to Jammu the scene is just routine but for the first timers the image of J&K being an exotic destination and the visitors' paradise is shattered within few minutes.
According to rough estimates more than 30,000 passengers arrive at Jammu railway station and if these people are regarded as ambassadors of the state the impression they take back home is surely marring the image of the state as an attractive tourist destination as the same story gets repeated at several other tourist destinations.
After coming out of the railway station the visitors are first greeted by the views of half constructed buildings on the railway road and when they cross the university lane and reach Tawi bridge they are shocked to see the plight of river Tawi. The moment they enter the old city area and reach up to general bus stand or visit the posh Residency road they are greeted by unhygenic conditions.Th condition both inside and outside the bus stand as also in in the old city areas remains chaotic.
In majority of such matters the concerned authorities either blame the poor availability of funds or staff shortage as the reason behind maintaining cleanliness at public places frequented by tourists and other visitors.
Strangely, the railway authorities do the reverse when some of their own ministers or 'bada sahib' is visiting the railway station for an on the spot inspection. The general bus stand presents a pathetic picture and it appears that neither the tourism minister nor the Chief
Minister and his cabinet ministers have ever paid a visit to these places to see for themselves how the visitors are cultivating first impression about the state of Jammu and
Kashmir and how much hospitality has been extended to the visitors by the state tourism and other departments in the name of attracting more tourist influx. Some one please clear the mess! This is the serious call of the hour.
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