J&K administration looks at reopening tourism; says SOPs, guidelines to be issued soon

Tribune News Service
Jammu, July 6

Jammu and Kashmir administration said it would reopen the union territory to tourism soon---a development that comes as states slowly begin to ease restrictions on movement and open up their completely stalled economic activities.  

Government spokesperson Rohit Kansal said in a tweet that the administration will issue guidelines for opening up its tourism industry.

“J&K to reopen for tourism soon. Govt to issue detailed guidelines and SoP shortly : LG issues directions in  high level meeting in Srinagar today”, Rohit Kansal, who's principal secretary of the J&K government as well as being the government spokesperson, said in a tweet after Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu held a meeting with administrative secretaries.

The union territory’s tourism sector has been crippled by the coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown that was imposed to stop its spread in March.

Meanwhile has asked authorities to closely monitor J&K’s developmental activities, and ordered the release of all payments pending under various schemes in the union territory. 

J&K follows states like Karnataka, Goa, and Himachal Pradesh, which are beginning to reopen their tourism sector after more than two months of lockdown that aimed at slowing the spread of coronavirus.

The administration’s decision comes on a day when Jammu and Kashmir recorded 246 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infected people in the union territory to 8,675.

Six people died in the last 24 hours, officials said on Monday---a development that takes the UT’s death toll to 138.

Kashmir region accounts for 124 of those deaths.