Gulmarg, the world renowned tourist destination, is the pride of Kashmir Valley. There are very few natural resorts and ski field like Gulmarg in the world except in Switzerland. The British rulers during their Raj had developed fascination for this spot. Actually, it is the British who had discovered it and induced the rulers of Jammu and Kashmir to develop it. Maharaja Hari Singh had also great taste for natural beauty and Kashmir was ideal place where he could develop the tourist centres of Gulmarg and Pahalgam according to his choice. His British friends and officers used to visit these two spots during summer when the plains of India turned into a burning cauldron owing to summer heat.
Sad to say that after the British left India and the rule of the Maharaja was replaced by popular Government, the culture of maintaining these enviable tourist spots could not maintain its previous splendor. It was because those who took charge of looking after these tourist spots were very little conversant with the culture of tourism besides being aliens to the grandeur and beauty of nature. Only those who are gifted with an eye for beauty and nurse a taste of high order are able to maintain these rare spots. With the passage of time, though some more structures were added to Gulmarg and the skiing was more prominent among these additions, yet overall maintenance and upkeep of the tourist destination did not show much improvement. Some new additions were made and that went in line with the attraction that this spot had for the tourists, yet slackness in discipline and lack of taste marred this renowned tourist destination. The Government constituted Gulmarg Development Authority (GDA) with the obvious purpose of developing the spot along scientific lines and making it more attractive.
As the number of tourists began to swell, people with commercial interests tried to extract from this tourist destination illegal benefits. One illegal activity which marked a long list of irregularities is that of encroachment of the land and raising of unauthorized structures such as restaurants, clubs or resorts as these have great lucrative attraction. In doing so, very unfortunately, some of the responsible functionaries of the GDA and the Revenue Department formed a nexus with the land grabbers and seized patches of land that did not belong to them at all. This activity continued perhaps more expeditiously under the nose of the Gulmarg Development Authority.
We may recall here that only last week, we commented on the verdict of the State High Court in a PIL which had demanded enquiry into the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GDA illegally granting permission to some people for raising structures in the Gulmarg tourist complex. The Court had summoned the CEO and delivered him strict warning that he had transgressed his powers and granted permission to the builders to raise structures or modify these in total contravention of the rules. The Court had not only opined that the CEO had no authority to issue such permission but went to the length of questioning the efficiency and competence of the CEO. This was indirect indictment of the State Government also. High Court’s disgust was that the CEO had not even cared to bring the matter to the notice of higher authority, in this case Building Operations Controlling Authority (BOCA).
Now on the next hearing, the CEO presented himself before the High Court and tendered apology for his serious fault of according permission for building of new structures or repairing and renovating old structures, an activity that lay beyond his administrative jurisdiction. The Court seems to have accepted his apology but at the same time has directed the CEO to submit the report on the status of the illegal constructions meaning at what stage have these been stopped and to what extent the illegally raised structures have been demolished. The CEO has confirmed that the status quo was ordered to be effective from October 5, the date when the Court’s orders came. The crucial point is not what punishment has been or may be suggested for the erring CEO. The real point is how far the beauty and originality of the tourist and ski spot has been retrieved. The Government has to ensure what steps it takes to prevent any further repetition of this sort of irregularity. This is the reason why the Court has asked the Sub Divisional Magistrate and Police sub division to ensure that encroachments are done away with, illegal structures are demolished and the pristine position of the tourist destination is restored.
Since the question of deliberate damaging of tourist spots has come up, we would like to remind the Tourism Department that there have been similar complaints about Pahalgam and we had in one of our editorials raised the issue. We hope the Tourism Department is alive to its responsibility of ensuring that no tourist destination is subjected to vandalism by people with political clout. While the Tourism Department is looking for new destination, it does not mean that old and established destinations have to be treated shabbily. This department has to go a long way in becoming really an effective department so as to become the mainstay of the economy of the State.
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