Srinagar, Dec 4: Creating connectivity to the tourist places and raising infrastructure were the high on government agenda.
Bungas Valley development will be taken on private public partnership model and to tackle the rush of the tourist traffic on Boulevard road during peak tourism season the government will introduce the water transport from Dal Gate to foreshore road.  And, the government will soon go for the rehabilitation of Dal dwellers.
This was revealed by Minister for Tourism Nawang Ringzin Jora and MoS for Tourism Nasir Aslam Wani at an interactive session ‘to look within- our role and responsibility’ organized by the JK Tourism Alliance and Department of Tourism at SKICC here.
Speaking on the occasion the minister said the main objective of the Tourism Department is to ensure that more and more tourists are attracted to the valley and to motivate them to spend more time here.
“We have gathered here to discuss how to improve our services so as to satisfy our tourists to attract more of them to our state,” he said.
The minister said that the main objective of the department is to ensure that instead of spending two or three days at a tourist spot the tourists should be lured to spend twenty to thirty days there.
“We are developing many new destinations like Doodh Pathri, Gurez, Yousmarg, Tousa Maidan, Aharbal Drass, Kargil, Dana. Manasbal etc. We want to create all the basic facilities at these places for which we have already established tourist facilitation centers,” he said.
Terming the road connectivity to many tourism places as horrible the minister said that improving the roads to the tourism spots are the top priority with the department.
The minister said the department is planning to go for the development of Bungus by involving Private public partnership.
“The Bungus can come up as a major tourist attraction. It can be used as a golf course or for skiing. We will look for the couple of investors for this project and will also take expert opinion on it. It would be done in a planned and a big way,” he said.
On the lengthy immigration process at Srinagar International Airport, the Minister said, “I will discuss it in a meeting with Chief Minister before the tourism season begins so that the problem is addressed in time.”
 “Tourists are our guests and we cannot make them to face so much of hassle and harassment,” he added.
The minister said at some tourism places the tourism department have constructed the concrete structures which he said goes against the aesthetics of such places.
“Our department should have been more conscious about such things. This concern was also raised by the CM during his visit to Pahalgam. I ensure that now onwards any of the property that is developed by our department will have a typical Kashmiri architecture,” he said.
To avoid the inconvenience to the tourists they face at the hands of Guides and Pony walas the Minister said that they will introduce the numbering system so that each of them gets his turn accordingly.
Replying to a query, Nasir Aslam Wani said that from the coming tourism season the government will introduce the water traffic from Dal Gate to Foreshore Road to ease the heavy rush of Tourist Traffic at Boulevard which frequently causes traffic jams.
“It will not be leisure traffic but will work like the normal traffic. It will be run on the same pattern as we run the matador service,” he said.
Wani said that the biggest problem that they were confronting in conserving the Dal Lake was the rehabilitation process of the Dal Dwellers which he said will be done soon.
“We also used to get funds to conserve and preserve the lake. Recently we approached the government of India to provide the funds for the rehabilitation of Dal dwellers for which they provided us with a full funded scheme.  Now we will rehabilitate them soon and in the coming five years we will see great improvement in the condition of lake,’ he said.
Among others present on the occasion were Farooq Ahmad Shah Director of Tourism, Tanveer Jahan Secretary Tourism and Culture, Mehraj Ahmad Kakroo Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Naseema Lankar Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Members of J&K Tourism Alliance along with other tourism players.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 4 Dec 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 4 Dec 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 5 Dec 2009 00:00:00 IST