Sunil Kumar
Dachhan is a picturesque remote area of district Kishtwar. It is 50 km away from district headquarters Kishtwar and 280 km away from Jammu, the winter capital of J&K state. It is dotted with a number of tourist destinations which remain neglected and unexplored due to umpteen reasons-one of them is lack of connectivity via road, air or rail with rest of the State. The populace of this picturesque area is habitated mostly on the left/right banks of river Marwah- Troutrich. It is still a non descript area even in the age of information technology where the entire world has become a small village.
It has several lush green meadows such as Lovmarg, Saterchen, and Nachunbhachun etc. where the nomadic cowherds and shepherds graze their flock. These can be exploited and developed by creating requisite infrastructure i.e., Tourist huts in these meadows. For the promotion of tourism in the area, annual tourism mela on the pattern of Laldraman Doda where Grameen cum Tourism Mela is held every year for promoting tourism in the area, can be organized for luring the tourists. In winter when there is a white cover of snow everywhere, these meadows can be used for skiing and thus world class ski resorts may be developed.
It has some of the highest peaks in the world which offers exciting treks ranging from difficult to the very easy. It has been a favourite with trekkers since the British Raj. A dozen of peaks in the Kiar Nallah include Sickle Moon (6574m), eiger (6001m), Cathedral (5370m) etc. and a dozen of peaks in the Nath nallah include Brammah-i (6416m), Brammah-ii (6425m), Brammah’s wife (5297m), Crooked Finger(5630m) etc. which can be used for trekking tourism. It is pertinent to mention here that some of these peaks were tried to scale during the British Raj but many of them are still virgin till date.
Pilgrimage tourism such as annual Hudh Mata Yatra can also be used for attracting pilgrims. The important features of this shrine includes a natural made cave, a temple besides Trisandiya-a stream which flows down thrice a day and becomes dry from downward to upward and leaves not even a single drop of water in the Nallah. Besides, Dachhan is also a hub of several unique places which can be used for spiritual upliftment as they offer a calm, serene and soul invigorating environment for all as these are far away from humdrum city life.
There is an important national park in the region, one of only three in the state. The Kishtwar high altitude national park is situated 33020′-34000’n and 75040′-76010’e. It has an area of 400 sq.km/42,500 Ha. It was declared as a national park in February, 1981. Its altitude varies from 1700m to 4800m. It has 13 types of vegetations, 14/15 species of large mammals and 50 species of birds. It receives an annual rainfall of about 760mm.
Dachhan is abundant with hot water springs called as Tatta Panni which are said to help in the treatment of skin diseases and rheumatic pains. Hundreds of local people visit these springs for a cure every year.
To explore the beauty of this unhidden area, the need of the hour is to develop this exquisite place as a tourist spot by connecting the area through road, creating necessary infrastructure apart from making wide publicity of the area both inside and outside the state through print and electronic media so that all sorts of tourists may be attracted to visit the area which will not only economically develop the area but also these tourists will act as ambassadors in their respective areas for dissemination of information and help in cementing the ties between the people. By way of this, Dachhan can become the most popular summer/winter pleasure resorts. It has temperate climate which is conducive for all.
In the end, I would like to make a sincere appeal to all the stakeholders to pay adequate attention for the overall development of Dachhan in whatever form they can contribute. Just as we work hard day and night for shaping our career, in the same way please make a lifelong mission of developing the area which, in true sense, we can do justice to heaven like Dachhan. Japan has become a developed country despite of causing large scale devastation on the two important cites -Nagasaki and Horoshima through two atom bombs on 6th and 9th August, 1945. Do you know what the reason behind this is? The reason behind this is that if the Govt. building collapses, the Japanese dismantle their own house and repair the Govt. building. Due to this single indispensable quality of Japanese, they have again succeeded in scaling the ladder of development. I want to see such sense of feeling among the people of Dachhan so that it may become a developed area which in turn paves way for the prosperity of the people of Dachhan as well as J&K State. Someday, God willing, these pretty places will make Dachhan a major tourist destination.
While summing up the entire write-up, I would like to quote a few beautiful couplets of Marry Petrie for the praise of Dachhan:- each mountain in wintry grandeur towers, and whitens with eternal sleet, while summer in a vale of flowers, is sleeping rosy at its feet.
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