Neglected Religious Tourism

Every week, thousands of devotees set out for the Sukrala Mata Shrine, carrying with them faith, hope and reverence. What they get in return, long before they reach the sanctum, is a battered, crumbling, and often terrifying 9-kilometre stretch from Billawar - a road so poorly maintained that the journey itself becomes an ordeal rather than an act of devotion. It is an old wound that the Government has chosen to dress with cosmetic patchwork year after year, rather than heal with a permanent cure. While official statements repeatedly hail religious tourism as a pillar of Jammu and Kashmir's development strategy, the ground reality along this very route tells a different story - one of sinking stretches, missing parapets, landslide debris, and eroded shoulders. Grand claims are made on paper; nothing changes on the ground. If religious tourism is truly a priority, the neglect of a route serving one of the region's most sacred shrines is inexcusable.

What makes matters worse is the Roads and Buildings Department's own admission that the recently sanctioned Rs 3.5 crore is grossly insufficient - with the actual requirement pegged at over Rs 8 crore for comprehensive, durable restoration involving retaining walls, breast walls, parapets and proper drainage. That the department itself concedes the inadequacy of funding is a serious indictment of the Government's priorities. It confirms that repairs are being carried out to manage optics, not to solve the underlying problem.

Beyond the road's physical condition lies another failure - the absence of any meaningful facilitation for pilgrims. There is no special transport arrangement even on auspicious occasions, when footfall multiplies manifold. Families who set out enthusiastically in their own vehicles often return with an experience so harrowing that they vow never to attempt the journey again. This is not merely an inconvenience; it is a direct blow to the local economy, which depends heavily on the goodwill and the return visits of pilgrims.

Sukrala Mata Shrine has the natural potential to emerge as a major tourism and pilgrimage destination for the region. But potential alone means little without the infrastructure to support it. It is high time the Government moved beyond token gestures and undertook a comprehensive, permanent upgrade of this vital route. Anything less will keep reducing Sukrala Mata's pilgrimage to an exercise in endurance rather than devotion.