Suhail Bhat
Srinagar, Aug 27: The houseboat owners are struggling to keep their boats afloat as they cannot afford maintenance costs of these floating marvels that remained defunct for over last one year.
The houseboat owners said they cannot bear the maintenance costs of their boats and requested the Government to give them financial support to save their assets from sinking. “We have not earned a single penny for the last one year and have run out of savings. If the Government declines to give a helping hand, we might lose 70% houseboats this winter,” Ghulam Qadir Gasi, a houseboat owner said.
He decried Government’s apathy for lack of funding towards preserving houseboats. Over the years, he said, the number of houseboats has dropped drastically and if Government did not intervene this time, many houseboats would collapse.
“Without maintenance, the houseboats would not withstand the harsh winter. Every year we have to stuff the floor of the house with special grass in the month of August. The material is costly and we import it from other States,” he said, adding they have no money to buy the material this time as they are sitting idle for the last year.
The owners informed around 912 houseboats which adorn Dal Lake, Nigeen Lake and Jehlum are vulnerable to heavy snowfall and need certain repairs before the onset of winter. The owners said although houseboats serve as the prime tourist attraction, the Government is showing no interest to preserve these pieces of heritage. “At one time we had around 2500 houseboats and Government were encouraging us to build more. Today, we are left with around 900 houseboats and Government is not even helping us to preserve those,” they said.
The pandemic has come as a double whammy to these houseboat owners as they could not get time to recover the losses that the tourism industry suffered after the 5th August last year. The owners said, with COVID-19 putting a brake on tourism, they are in deep the financial crisis and the Government should start steps to provide assistance. “The government must give us help as they force the tourists out of the Valley ahead of revocation of Article 370,” Farooq Ahamd Badyari, another houseboat owner said. Ever since, he said, they have not recovered from the sudden withdrawal of tourists.
The houseboat owners have rejected the Government’s monthly help of Rs 1000 during the lockdown, and termed it a pittance. “The maintenance of each houseboat is around one lakh a year and sometimes it can go up to Rs2 lakhs. Rs 1000 are a Joke. That amounts to Rs 33 per day. Who will survive on such a paltry amount,” a houseboat owner asked?
Director Tourism, Nissar Ahmad, told Excelsior that they have distributed around Rs 5 crores among different stakeholders as financial assistance. “We gave Rs 1000 as monthly assistance to different categories like guides, ponnywallas and sledge wallas, etc. We offered the same to houseboat owners, but they refused. If they are willing to take the amount, let them come forward we are ready to pay,” he said.
Meanwhile, the houseboat owners appealed Lt. Governor, Manoj Sinha, to intervene into the issue and take concrete efforts in favour of the owners whose business has suffered huge losses since 5th August last year.
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