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Tribune News Service
Gulmarg, August 23
On a normal day during this season, Gulmarg tourist resort is packed with tourists, both local as well as from outside. But these days Gulmarg is so desolate that no person is visible on the roads. Even hotels are completely deserted with only watch and ward staff present there.
With the region under shutdown for the 18 consecutive days today, the tourism and hospitality industry is the worst hit in Gulmarg. It is only stray dogs, cattle and horses visible in Gulmarg as all the shopkeepers, horsemen, hotel staff, tourist guides have left the resort to the safety of their homes back in the Valley.
“It’s ’90s like situation in Gulmarg when not a single tourist was visible here. Hotels are deserted. The staff have left, with only watch and ward staying back,” a driver of Hotel Hill Top in Gulmarg said, adding that he had not been able to contact his family back in Kupwara due to the communication blockade.
Another hotel staff member said the government advisory asking the tourists to leave Kashmir immediately just prior to the abrogation of J&K’s special status on August 5 played havoc with Kashmir’s tourism and hospitality industry.
“Just a day before the advisory, Gulmarg was packed with tourists from all over the world. Everything here was normal and the footfall had rekindled our hopes of having a good tourist season this year. But in one stroke everything changed. We are now back to zero,” said the young staff member while expressing his displeasure over the abrogation of special status and downgrading of the J&K state into two Union Territories.
Like deserted hotels, the Gulmarg Gondola is also closed with only watch and ward staff left. A Gandola staff member described the situation in Gulmarg as “tense” “Gulmarg is very close to the Line of Control. Right from Tangmarg up to the Afarwat peak, the Army has enhanced its vigil and night patrols,” he said while describing the situation.
A lone shopkeeper at the entrance to the Gulmarg Bowel said the shepherds in the upper reaches of the Gulmarg had already left meadows as they were asked to vacate in the wake of tense situation. His version was also corroborated by Abdul Hussain, a nomadic Bakerwal in the lower reaches of Gulmarg forests, who was there with his herd of sheep and goats. “I hail from Rajouri. After we were asked by the Army to leave Gurez pastures some 20 day ago, I decided to cross the Pir Pancahal range to Rajouri via Gulmarg. But here I came to know that the nomadic community at the upper reaches of Gulmarg has already been asked to vacate,” he said.