Like any other part of the country , Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir as also Ladakh , as a natural corollary, too have suffered on account of COVID virus pandemic , more or less for nearly two years. However, one thing common to both the Union Territories is their economies greatly dependent upon the behaviour of the tourism sector. Tourism is such a sensitive industry and having absolute ”monopoly ” in that physical mobility is incontrovertible for its end use , the ultimate feel and the purpose. Unlike any other commercial activity , most of official activities and duties , educational activities etc which can be carried on through online , tourism entails actual physical movement and this very movement had to be restrained and curtailed even regulated strictly to avert infections. Tourism , as we all know, is not absolute in itself but involves Railways, civil aviation, private and public transport , hotels, restaurants , boats and houseboats and hundreds of thousands of people connected therewith for livelihood. It may be recalled that twice annual pilgrimage to the Holy Amarnath Shrine in Kashmir had to be disallowed and on round the clock basis pilgrimage to the Holy Shrine of Shree Mata Vaishno Devi in Jammu had to be intermittently stopped for days together or increasingly restricted. Ladakh , in the same way, suffered on account of restrictions imposed by the authorities to save human lives . However, in all cases tourism and related trade activities suffered.
Though the Central Government has, while fighting the dreaded virus , been fighting its effects and aftermaths too side by side and providing some succour to the affected sections yet the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs while admitting such steps having been taken by the Central Government as per its report tabled in the Parliament , however, has suggested certain measures to be taken to revive, in particular, the much affected tourism industry and hospitality . In this connection , one of the top important suggestions put forth by the Committee is granting of a special economic package so as to help the active revival of this vital sector of the UT economy. There is no doubt that a fairly large number of people are directly and indirectly associated with this important sector besides it generates lot of revenue as well for the Government. Any small stimulus provided to the said industry would result in making it possible to having an acceleration effect and benefitting people. A road map , therefore , must be chalked out by the Government in respect of the nuances of and devising a structure to help this industry to ensure an increase in the footfall of tourists.
In this connection, on the other hand if the available data in respect of the tourist turnover during the last few months in Jammu and Kashmir is any indication , especially those who visited the gorgeous valley only in 2021 and up to the month of November last year , it is the highest than all the figures of the last seven years and the trend is encouraging despite the limitations of the pandemic. It is only a fact that at the start of 2021 a glimmer of hope for tourism turned into a bonanza and every new month of the last year , records of footfall of many years were broken. In other words, it depends upon many factors extraneous to those presumed to be exclusively influencing it. However, a reasonably viable revival package stitched for giving it a further push can be well mooted and especially in the light of the Parliamentary panel’s recommendations, must be favourably considered at an early date.
Similarly , about the UT of Ladakh, there too is a good measure of tourist footfall but while it brings with it associated advantages for the UT , there are issues related thereto which the Parliamentary Standing Committee has observed with concern and suggested in its report to be duly addressed and that is the growing problem of improper disposal of garbage and inorganic wastes which , if not contained, would have a telling effect on the fragile eco-system of the enchanting cold desert. The Panel, therefore, has recommended for taking such steps under a proper strategy so that Ladakh became carbon-neutral besides more stress given on green energy, electric transport , organic farming etc. However, not that in these areas , work is not going on and especially the Prime Minister having expressed the hope while addressing the nation on the Independence Day that Leh-Kargil – Ladakh region was destined to become the first carbon neutral region in the entire country and in this connection, setting up of a solar park with 7500 MW capacity having been announced in late 2020, but work on that needs to be sped up and efforts towards making Ladakh carbon neutral taken, is the crux of and the objective behind the suggestions made by the Parliamentary Panel.
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