Mir Iqbal
GULMARG, Dec 21: The health resort and world famous ski centre Gulmarg has turned unhealthy, as the random disposal of tons of waste on the main road sides has turned into a huge garbage dump. It has put threat to the ecology, flora, causing inconvenience to the tourists visiting the place and its adjoining areas.
The open dumping of huge piles of garbage at ‘outer circular road’ has put a huge question mark over the Government mechanism and functioning of Gulmarg Development Authority (GDA) for their failure to put in place basic sanitation facilities.
The smell emanating from huge piles of garbage scattered over the long slopes on main road has engulfed the only viable road, thus forces visitors to close window panes of their vehicles while leading towards Gulmarg.
The garbage-laden trolleys are emptied in forests slopes on the main road and attract a troop of monkeys, crows and vultures’, which made movement of visitors unsafe in the area.
The garbage including non-biodegradable polythene, plastic bottles and left-over food items roll down the slopes has turned the face of lush green forests ugly and more shocking is the fact that the Government has been totally insensitive to the issue despite travelling to same route regularly.
“We are disappointed to see that such a beautiful place with long and dense pine trees has been turned into garbage site,” said Anjali Ohja, a tourists from Delhi, adding, it has damaged the natural scenery of the place.
Ohja flanked by others in her group said that State Government might be doing everything it could to market Gulmarg as the high end tourist destination and a perfect venue for winter sports, but the Tourism Department seems to be least bothered about the cleanliness of the area.
Locals also accused the Tourism Department for failing to put things in order at their own places for which they have been proud off despite spending crores of rupees on organizing special events in other states and countries to attract tourists in this trouble torn region.
They said it was the responsibility of authorities to ensure proper scientific disposal of garbage, so that the beauty and fragile ecosystem can be preserved.
Residents of Tangmarg also said that hundreds of hoteliers from other parts of the State are using Gulmarg for their business purposes, while as, the Tourism Department has failed to hold them accountable for polluting environment, water resources and other natural endowments.
A top official of GDA, on condition of anonymity told Excelsior the sanitation of Gulmarg was outsourced in 2011, but with “poor” monitoring from the concerned authorities, the project was never successful and installation of incinerators for scientifically garbage disposal was yet to implement.
“The job to install the mechanical incinerator was assigned to the Mechanical Engineering Department (MED) some three years back, but the project was not started due to reasons known to them,” he said.
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