Kulgam , May 28 : As the sun shone bright in a cloudless sky on Sunday morning, the residents from around a dozen villages streamed into Panzath, an idyllic village, located two kms from south Kashmir’s Qazigund town for an annual festival —to clean out the Panzath Nag (spring).
Since morning, a myriad of people—men, women and children–could be seen wading through the spring to clean it out, catch fish and spruce up its surroundings.
After several hours of cleaning, which included de-weeding and de-silting, the glistening waters of the spring began flowing smoothly.
“At least 500 to 600 residents took part in the cleaning and fishing festival”, said Farooq Ahmad, a resident.
Every year, hundreds of residents team up to clean the spring and catch fish. The tradition, which reasonably defies description has been going on for centuries in the area.
“I have been taking part in this festival since my childhood. The practice, I have heard, has been going on since ages”, said 70-year-old Ghulam Nabi from Panzath village.
The festival is usually held in the first week of May, but this year it was delayed due to bad weather conditions.
“ The frequent rains and drop in temperature postponed the carnival,” said another resident.
The spring is a source of drinking water to over two dozen villages and it also irrigates the large swathes of agricultural land in the area.
According to an official, the spring, which discharges 6,448 million litres per day (MLD) is the source to at least eight water supply schemes.
“The spring is also a good source of trout fish. Last year the water body produced fish worth Rs 18.50 lakh,” said the official.
During the festival, the villagers are permitted to fish within a specific area and for the rest of year it remains off-limits to them.
The hamlet has been declared a tourist village and a few months ago, the unique carnival found a special mention in Prime Minister Narindra Modi’s monthly radio show Mann Ki Baat.
However, the residents alleged that the tourism authorities are doing little to develop the village as a tourism destination.
“The village has great potential in terms of tourism. It is merely 2 kms from the Jammu- Srinagar national highway and has become a new gateway to Kashmir after the Banihal-Qazigund tunnel was made operational”, said Umaisar Gull.
He said that people from neighbouring districts throng the village to witness the annual festival.
“This village has grabbed headlines due to the festival and helped to expose the awe-inspiring beauty of the place”, he added.