Dr A C Bhagat
Lately, on 20th of July 2025 one NGO of Bhallessa namely “Educational, Environmental, Social, Sports & Cultural Society” Bhallessa organized one Bhallessa Bhall Padhri Festival, 2025 at Bhall Padhri itself in collaboration with some one or two Government departments (Forest & Tourism) and district as well as local administrations of both sub-divisions i.e. Bhallessa and Bhaderwah. The Government departments reportedly, had a meagre involvement and participation but the general public gathering which crossed 35,000 people from all walks of life and from different regions / areas, different districts of J&K UT, from Himachal Pradesh, from Punjab and even there were participants / artists from Rajasthan. Women, children, elderly and even infirm, participated and the situation became so alarming that it had become out of control for the local and District Administrations to handle and therefore they stopped the entry of further vehicles beyond the entry point because nobody expected such a huge participation with thousands of vehicles stranded creating a chaotic situation where even Deputy Commissioner, Doda was seen managing the traffic personally. With such a large gathering it proved to be a historical event on a hill station in Chenab Valley.
Bhall Padhri-a beautiful and scenic hill station, a very vast semi-alpine meadow with dozens of meadows surrounding it, is located in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir. It lies in the Bhallessa region specifically around Gandoh / Bhallessa valley. Its altitude is around 9,000 to 10,000 feet above the sea level. The literary meaning of word Padhri means flat area and basically this is a very large flat area with so many such areas associated with it and these such flat areas are called meadows. Bhall Padhri itself is a very large scenic alpine meadow known for its breathtaking natural beauty.
The surroundings of Bhall Padhri are characterized by natural surroundings like Lush Meadows- rolling green pastures with numerous wild flowers especially in summer.The large alpine picturesque meadow area Bhall Padhri in the Bhallessa area of Chenab Valley is surrounded with coniferous forests like dense trees of Deodar, Pine and Fur trees etc. Besides, there are also snow-capped mountains encircled with Pir Panjaal ranges and other high Himalayan peaks, numerous streams flowing through these meadows, springs. There are also Alpine Flora rich in herbs and medicinal plants which can be seen especially during the summer.
Bhall Padhri area is a temperate zone that supports a range of wild fauna. This area is known for its diverse wildlife population. Despite of the fact that it is not a designated wildlife sanctuary, still it is an area with a variety of wild animals including Snow Leopards, Brown Bear, Musk Deer, Himalayan Black Bear (Bhaloo)which is very common in these forests adjoining meadows and other common Leopards(Cheetah). This area is home to several species of conservative point of view including the snow leopard and the brown bear. Some mammals like ibex, musk deer, goral, Himalayan Tahr and common leopards are also present in the area. Red Fox, Barking Deer, Himalayan Weasel, Jungle Cat, Common Languor, Porcupine (quill pig) and Indian Hare are also present in this region. There are diversified avian species present in the area since time immemorial. Some major avian species include Himalayan Monal (Teetr), Cheer Pheasant (cheer tittr), Himalayan Vulture, Golden Eagle, Snow Pegeon, White-capped Redstart (safaid topi wala redstart) and Tits (small sized birds make noises, called Cheekdi in Hindi / Urdu).There are still dozens and dozens of wild species of plants, herbs, shrubs, trees, hundreds of unrecognized species of flowers, animals, birds and snakes but unfortunately no Government agency ever cared for such a magnificent and vibrant tourist place in the Chenab Valley region and as such, everything remained hidden.
The natural scenic beauty of Bhall Padhri group of meadows is such that had it been brought under tourism corridor / map, explored even at a minimum level and just required road connectivity developed, then today’s Bhall Padhri would have been ranking at par with the beauties of the Kashmir or elsewhere.
But unfortunately, such a charming, full of natural beauty, a vast semi-alpine meadow with dozens of other meadows adjoining and surrounded by dense forests withabundant diverse plant, animal, birds and insect species, remained unexplored, unknown, uncared and relinquished by the successive governments for the last seven decades. It was only in 2005, that Bhaderwah Development Authority (BDA) was established with its headquarter at Bhaderwah when Ghulam Nabi Azad was the Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. During his tenure many other tourist places were developed and created and the infamous Tulip Garden of Kashmir is one of the examples. However, unfortunately, his tenure pre-maturely came to an end on 11th July 2008 in view of the Amar Nath Land Row crisis.During that tenure many tourist places including Tilli-Garh, Naalthi, Jaie, Khellani were developed in Bhaderwah sub-division only and again many beautiful areas in Bhallessa remained ignored and out of tourism map or tourism syllabus. It is significant to make mention of a few of such tourist places in Bhallessa including (1) Kanthi Dhaar (2) Naag-lotan meadow which is near to Bhall Padhri (3) Amar Singh Pora (Phalog) (4) Jawali Dhaar (5) Rowharri Dhaar / meadow (6) Talaie and Mandraala, meadows near Bhall Padhri (7) Daggen Dhaar (8) Patern Dhaar (9) Jhijhar Dhaar – close to boundary of Chamba district of Himaachal Pradesh (10) Mehalwaar Dhaar (11) Naagni Dhaar- above Chanti-Bhatmas areas (12) Dhanaso Dhaar-above Dhossa (13) Gasher Dhaar- above Pingel area (14) Ghill Dhaar (15) Kota Top – above kharangal (16) Baachh Dhaar (17) Jantroan Dhaar and many others.
The role of Bhaderwah Development Authority (BDA) remained indistinct as jurisdiction of BDA was not confined just only to areas falling in sub-division Bhaderwah but its jurisdiction comprised of Bhaderwah and surrounding tourist areas in Doda district, so the BDA is very much answerable to the people of sub-divisions Bhallessa and Thathri, as well. Beyond Bhaderwah sub-division no tourism activity with regard to eco-tourism, heritage tourism and adventure tourism has taken place. No tourism huts, no guest houses were constructed, no viewpoints, no recreation parks were developed, no trekking routes established /constructed despite of the fact that there are tremendous potential and scopes in these left out and untouched areas by BDA. Reportedly, crores and crores of rupees were siphoned in to BDA particularly after the end of Ghulam Nabi Azad period. Where and when such huge amounts have been spent and under whose tenure as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BDA, right from August 2008 onwards to ending June 2025 i.e. for seventeen long years, allegedly no visible tourism development activity was under taken. Will there be someone to bring a white paper on the whole issue pertaining to funds received / funds utilized / tourism developed by the BDA during the aforementioned period of seventeen long years?
(The author is a former Dy. Director, presently Chairperson-Lok Adhikaar Mission, J&K)
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