A group of young tour operators today kick-started ‘Clean Sonamarg Drive’ as part of Green Kashmir Initiative for protecting the fragile ecology of tourist spots in Kashmir Valley.
The Green Kashmir Initiative under the banner Kashmir Eco Tourism Club (KETC) was launched from Sonamarg by Shabir Hussain, CEO – Sonamarg Development Authority. Riyaz Ahmad & Saleem Wanchu, General Managers of JKTDC were present, a statement here said.Later, the members of Green Initiative drive visited all the shopkeepers and distributed cloth bags among them to prevent use of polythene. Besides, the members removed garbage and polythene from the tourist area.
CEO – SDA welcomed the members and appreciated the social and environmental cause taken by the local tour operators.
Sameer Baktu, Event Coordinator of KETC said this is the first initiative and “we will be taking up the cleanliness drive at least once in a fortnight.”
He said the next spot will be downtown Srinagar and then “we will move to Aru.”
Sameer said the KETC is not an association but purely a group of people working for the just cause.
He said the KETC initiative is purely voluntary and “its members won’t seek any benefit in return from the government or any other organization.”
“Initially we have people connected with tourism involved in this initiative. In the next phase we will be involving students, teachers and traders. We will also be seeking assistance and guidance from environmentalists.”
Those who participated in the event were A Ahad Sheikh, A Aziz Guru, Shafi Mir, Shamim Shah, Manzoor Pakhton, Nasir Shah, Yaseen Tuman, M Hanif Kawa, Nisar Sheikh, Waseem Gosani, Maqsood Badyari, Maqbool Pakhtoon, Ali Muhammad Shangloo and representative of KHARA.
