To say that Pahalgam stinks is the antithesis of what we ordinarily say or believe about the place. We are told that Pahalgam is the ace tourist spot of Kashmir. We are told that Tourism Department spends crores of rupees to maintain pristine purity, ecology and environs of so-called world famous resort of Pahalgam. Tourism Department has special wing for publicity of the Department not only within the State but also in the country and abroad. On this publicity, crores of rupees are spent and even official delegations of the Department of Tourism enjoy the luxury of trips abroad under the pretext of publicizing the tourist spots of Kashmir and attract foreign tourists. A major chunk of the annual budget of the department is expended on these and other superficialities. A tourist who was reached by our correspondent had this telling remark to make about the “world famous resort”. She said,” “Who would want to visit a place where you have no toilet? It’s pathetic that we could not find a public toilet easily in Pahalgam and when we found one it was so stinky that one feels like vomiting. My daughter even refused to enter into it. Thank God there were hotels and restaurants around and we used their services.”
Out of 13 public washrooms within the Pahalgam Municipal area limit eight are completely defunct and locked. Five washrooms, which are available, are in complete shambles, floorings are broken, leakages are evident everywhere and despite having lots of fresh water springs there is no water available. Our enquiries revealed that catastrophic sanitary conditions of this tourist destination have happened owing to sordid lack of coordination and total absence of responsibility of two organizations, namely the Pahalgam Development Authority (PDA) and the Municipal Committee Pahalgam (MCP). Each holds the other responsible for looking after Municipal upkeep of the township with the result that the entire township has turned into a heap of garbage and excreta. Pahalgam has water availability in abundance yet the public toilets are waterless, stinking and a heap of garbage. While speaking about this horrid situation, the one question that comes to the mind of onlooker or a visitor is whether anybody in our State has heard about Prime Ministers appeal called Swachh Bharat? Are these stinking toilets of a hill resort the samples of Swachh Bharat where people in thousands from near and far off places in the county come to enjoy the cool and pristine nature of the Himalayan resort? A cursory look on the streets and market place of this tiny township convinces an onlooker that stark inefficiency has gripped the Tourism Department of the State and its functionaries from top to bottom have become insensitive to the responsibilities they owe and the duties they are expected to perform in return of hefty sallies and extraordinary facilities offered by the Government.
We understand that there is a court order directing that all activities have to be carried out under the control and supervision of the PDA and that the Pahalgam Municipal Committee will not interfere in the matter. If there is a court order with thee directions, then it become incumbent on the Government to divert adequate funds to the Authority to run its business efficiently. We learn that PDA has no funds. No grants have allocated under State and district plan. At present there is no proper management and unpredictability has gripped the department. This is very ludicrous that the Government implements the decision of the court but does not take into account the modalities of implementation particularly the financial side of it. In the course of a tussle between the two organizations the fundamental fact that the matter pertains to a crucial tourist destination, a destination that is deemed to generate huge funds to grease the wheels of State economy gets totally submerged. It is all right that hotels and guest houses in Pahalgam have updates services for the customers but the question is what the civil administration is doing for the maintenance of the standard of the destination to be called a tourist visiting spot.
Only last week we had brought out an editorial on vandalizing of Baisaran valley in Pahalgam by allowing it to be used for sports activities. The local herdsmen protested that the ecological balance of the tourist destination of Pahalgam was getting disturbed. The PDA was alleged to be closing its eye to the negative effect of allowing inroads into the Baisaran meadows. With the sordid state of affairs of the sanitary conditions of the town, it is confirmed that the PDA is incapable of maintaining the standard of the tourist destination as is expected of it. Therefore, the Government should immediately intervene in the matter and do everything possible to maintain the cleanliness, ecology and environmental health of the tourist resort of Pahalgam.
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