Excelsior Sports Correspondent
GULMARG, Oct 19: Reaffirming the resolve of the Government to develop world class tourist facilities and Golf Courses in the State, Minister for R&B, Gardens, Parks and Floriculture, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari has said that Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is keen to promote Golf and other tourism activities in the State. He said developing world-class Golf Courses has become imperative to meet the requirement of domestic as well as foreign Golfers coming here for the purpose.
The Minister was speaking at the concluding function of JK Tourism Invitational Golf Tournament, which concluded here last evening.
The tournament, in which over 100 golfers participated, was organized by Mushtaq Group of Hotels at the world famous and oldest Golf Course of the country here.
MLA, Gulmarg, Mohammad Abbas Wani, Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla, Yasha Mudgal, Chief Engineer, R&B, SK Razdan, CEO, GDA, senior officers of Tourism department besides renowned Golfers of the State were present on the occasion.
Appreciating the efforts of the Mushtaq Group of Hotels, Syed Altaf said holding of such events is aimed to send message to Golfers of World that Kashmir is right choice for them having lush and green golf courses with other allied facilities. He said the Golfers visiting Kashmir, domestic and foreign, become brand Ambassadors, who on reaching to their destinations propagate a message about standard of our Golf Courses and the facilities they are enjoying during their stay in the Valley.
R&B Minister said that Golf is the game of high end tourism, adding that organizing Golf Championships will go a long way in attracting such tourists at a large scale to the State. He said that private players have important role to play in promoting tourism activity in the State and underlined need for roping big business houses in this activity. He said Valley is witnessing low budget as well as high end tourists throughout the year and called for developing standard tourist infrastructure for meeting their demands.
Giving an open invitation to the Golfers, the Minister said that a Golf Championship is being organized at Jammu Golf Course in month of December. He said that Golfers will get an opportunity to play on 18 hole Golf Course developed recently in Jammu division.
MLA, Abass Wani while speaking on the occasion said that Golf is being played by a particular group of the people and assured for making every facility available to them here in this famous and oldest Golf Course and tourist resort. Welcoming the Golfers, Abbas said that the more Golfers coming to Kashmir means more livelihood opportunities for the locals.
Later, the Minister gave away trophies among best performers including Khurshid Ahmad, Zubair Zargar, Ashiq Masoodi, Muneer Ahmad and Sunil Bhat.
Earlier, the Minister inspected the ongoing construction and macadamization of 2.50 km new road from Club to Potato Farm in the resort and asked engineers to carry out necessary repairs of other interior roads also. He was informed that Rs 2 crore are being spent on this project.
The Minister said that road communication is primary requirement for development of tourist infrastructure and promotion of tourism activities and directed concerned authorities to ensure the roads leading to this world famous resort are kept in good condition.
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