KEA asks Government to come clean on Gulmarg lease holders

Chairman of Kashmir Economic Alliance Muhammad Yaseen Khan on Saturday flayed the continuous state regimes for what he called their failure to address the lease renewal policy for land allottees in Gulmarg. 

In a statement here Khan said, “Tourism is considered to be the backbone of business in Kashmir and the money generated is circulated to all strata of society through this trade but the state government is hellbent to devastate this sector now.” 

   

Khan, who also heads Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation (KTMF) said due to inaction of past continuous governments there has been a complete disregard to trade in general. 

He said, maximum number of tourists visiting valley spend most of their time in the meadows of Gulmarg.  “Most hotels sit on land where leases have expired and past governments have been assuring a policy on renewal/ownership of such properties. In the year 2006-07 the tourist destination of Gulmarg was to be converted into ownership properties under Roshni scheme which was scuttled for obvious reasons”, Khan said. 

“The concerned authorities of the ski resort of Gulmarg refused to let the control of land go out of their hands as they had become lucrative propositions that fed their political masters at the expense of tourism trade. It will not be wrong to say that more than any tourist destination in state of J&K this destination has become cesspool of corruption,” Khan alleged.

He said, “Several committees were constituted by successive regimes which was chaired by senior bureaucrats with sole aim on renewal policy of lease properties but no action towards this was ever taken by any government”. 

While urging the present dispensation to address this grave issue, KEA demanded formulation of a policy for the lease hold rights and other working conditions including repair of properties so that ski resort of Gulmarg doesn’t shut down anytime from now.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

two × one =