Everybody talks about Kashmir as a fine tourist destination. Various spots like Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Kokarnag, etc. are choice destinations where tourists usually throng in summer as well as in winter. In winter, lovers of winter sport like to enjoy themselves on snow capped peaks of Kashmir Mountains. Over the years, as we see, the number of foreign tourist has been dwindling while of national level tourists, the number is increasing. True, the income per capita in India has increased and the people have stronger position now to spend money on tours and travels. This is a good and healthy sign and would support the economy of the State.
But, we have often been reflecting on the nature of tourism in changed times. While the spending capacity has increased, the number of tourists has also increased proportionately. This also means pressure on infrastructure and on the ecology of tourist spots. By and large we find that the ecology of all of these spots is threatened by sheer lack of sense of environmental upkeep among the tourist, the tourism staff, the Government agencies and all others concerned with it. Take the case of Gulmarg which was considered a heaven of tourism during the days of the autocratic rule of the Maharaja. Its cleanliness, ecology and environs were meticulously maintained and one on a visit to the spot really felt that he was coming close to nature where nature reflected its grandeur and beauty in great abundance. But today, as tourists report, entire once picturesque serpentine road along Gulmarg heights is stinking and emanating foul smell because of dumping of garbage on the hills. Tourists travelling to Gulmarg close the windows and wrap their noses with cloth to avoid the stinking fouls smell of the dumps of garbage lying in open along the road and the slopes and thus taking away all that used to make it attractive and picturesque. Where is the Tourist Department? Where is Gulmarg Municipal Committee? Where is the Department of Environment and where the enormous funds coming to the State for improvement of tourist industry are going? Are we living in a lawless country where jungle rules prevail? Why not the responsible agencies are called to book and delivered punitive punishment for dereliction of duty? The simple impression a tourist gets after visiting the spot is that there is total collapse of administration from top to bottom. Almost the same is the condition of other tourist’s spots as well.
We would beseech the Government to move fast to arrest this sordid decay of tourist industry in the State. If this situation continues, we cannot consider tourism as the mainstay of J&K economy.
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