An oath ceremony of the newly elected executive members of the Kashmir Houseboat Owners Association (KHBOA) was held on Saturday. Abdul Hamid Wangnoo took the oath as the chairman of the association along with his seven office bearers at TRC Conference Hall in Srinagar.
These eight members were elected for the office of KHBOA few days back through an election process, according to a statement.
The oath was administered by the director tourism, Kashmir, Mahmood Ahmad Shah. According to the statement, Shah at the occasion said, “Houseboat owners are the real backbone of tourism in Kashmir, he said these exist from last 2oo years, and you have always kept tourism alive in the state.”
Shah stressed on the members of association that they should keep their counters in Ladakh, Katrah and Srinagar airport active so that massive flow of visitors will visit the state to and fro.
An award distribution at the end of the ceremony was also held in which ‘bravery award’ was given to Late Ghulam Ahmad Guri for saving many lives of tourists, when he took them for Shikara cruise on River Jehlum.
Jannat, a little girl who is on a mission to clean the Dal Lake was also felicitated by director tourism Kashmir.