Hundreds of thousands of tourists go to Kashmir every year. Though the Tourism Department get budgetary allocations to maintain the standard of tourism in Kashmie, the situation of tourist spots and tourist culture as a whole in the State is depressing. 

Amarnath has seen 4 lac tourists this year. The Yatra that began on 25 June and will terminate today on 2 August. Out of four lac yatris, 99 per cent go by road, with the journey taking a minimum of two days. The entire path of nearly 400 kilometers presents a look of desolation with refuse littered on both sides of the road. Lack of urinals, toilets and bathrooms along the 400 km stretch force the pilgrims to defecate and urinate along the road behind bushes. The river Sindh has also been polluted in this stretch.

Similar is the case in Vaishno Devi where the influx of Yatris to Mata Vaishnov Devi shrine has crossed 1.1 crore annually. From Lakhanpur up to the Vaishnov Devi shrine, the road on both sides is littered with garbage. There is no dustbin to deposit the used stuff in it. Most of the human refuse goes into water bodies and pollutes it.

Moreover, in absence of private or government accommodation for the pilgrims hundreds of thousands of yatris are forced to spend a night or two on verandas, in the forests or roadside.  They are forced by non availability of adequate arrangement to spend the nights in open. There are no sarais or dormitories in which the yatris would spend the night. 

While house Boats are stationed on the Dal Lake shabbily, some owners have also built their residential houses also and all the garbage from both places is dumped into the water of the Dal. Emptied plastic bottles, broken glasses, disposable items, rags etc. everything is dumped in the lake and thus its pollution is carried to the extreme.

The famous picnic spots like Chashma Shahi and Shalimar around the Dal Lake, once the choice destination of foreign visitors owing to excellent management and maintenance, has also seen recent reversal. Administration of these gardens is unable to cope with the crowds of people visit it daily. Absence of toilets, freedom of spreading litter around the parks, trampling of flower beds and lack of cleanliness are to be found everywhere.

Also, there is a lack of hygienic eateries around most of the tourist spots. There is hardly any check by the food inspecting department whether the eatables are worth eating.

Kokarnag, that could have been one of the most attractive places for the tourists to visit is lying shabby. Rusted, leaky pipes have been used to carry spring water, and even though some big pipes are fixed, at least half a dozen of these open pipes making the entire scene utterly ugly and offensive. The nearby bus stand has made the area noisy and shabby. 27 lakh rupees spent by the government for the construction of the stone gate have not of been use while these problems remain.

Wullar Lake, Asia’s biggest clean water lake, Gulmarg, Yusmarg, Pahalgam, Sonamarg and numerous other famous tourist spots of Kashmir are in no better condition. Their environs have become dumping ground for dirt, filth and garbage all stinking and repulsive.

In view of the many problems faced by Kashmir tourism, Hashim Qureshi, the Chairman of JK Liberation Party, has suggested corrective steps as per a report in Greater Kashmir.

"From Lakhanpur to Baltal and Chandanwari, public and private sector should be encouraged to jointly or individually set up big shelter shed with adequate facilities of sanitation, water and electricity. Yatris could pay for night stay. Also, public bathrooms, toilets and garbage boxes should be at a distance of every 20 km."

He also suggested to have first aid centres and polyclinics at the distance of 25 and 50 km respectively for the service of yatris.

Further, he said,"Police contingents deployed on duty at tourist destinations should be given training of how to stop public from polluting the environment. They should be given powers of apprehending those who cause pollution, fine them and bring them to book. It is desired that Environmental Section be created within the police force with specific duty of keeping environmental cleanliness around all tourist destinations. This is the practice followed in Europe and the US and has proved successful in controlling environmental cleanliness."

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