Infrastructure in JK defence-oriented, says Tourism Ministry
Even though Jammu and Kashmir is known as a tourism destination, but roads and communication infrastructure in the state have been developed in such a manner that they are primarily suited for defence purposes, a union tourism ministry report reveals.
“Development of the communication infrastructure in the past in Jammu and Kashmir has been totally defence-oriented and not tourist-oriented,” states the survey by Union Tourism Ministry on “20 Year Perspective Plan for Sustainable Development of Tourism in J&K.”
“Where the development of communication facilities like roads were conceived, no priority was assigned to the requirement of the tourism industry and were totally dependent on the demands of the executive wing of the government who had other reasons for asking for communication facilities,” it reads.
The survey of Government of India also grounds the claims of Srinagar Municipal Corporation that Srinagar city “is among cleanest cities of India.”
“Interviews with tourists, both Indian and foreign, have clearly indicated that a vast number of tourists visiting Srinagar find it a very dirty town with no power and reliable water supply, to say the least,” it reads.
“Taking an example, Master Plan for the improvement of public infrastructure in Srinagar city was originally conceived in the mid 1970s and was sent to the government in the mid 1980s and yet nothing out of that master plan has been put on ground while the city has degenerated into a massive slum,” the report reads.
The ministry is of the view that expensive schemes for promoting tourism industry in the state are currently no answer to future prosperity. “This is because tourism industry should be sustainable without outside grants and this can only come about when some of the basic infrastructure of the tourism industry is properly taken care of. The growth of the tourism industry in the state has been haphazard and very little coordination appears to have existed in the past between the private enterprise and the government,” it states.
