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KAILASH YATRA TOURISM FESTIVAL
By:
INDER SINGH MANHAS
Bhadarwah
Festival
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CM
watching POP model of Bhadarwah
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Organized
jointly by J&K Tourism Department and Bhadarwah Development
Authority, the week long Bhadarwah Festival was formally inaugurated on
19th of August this year by the State Chief Minister, Ghulam
Nabi Azad who incidentally happens to be the son of the soil and the
local MLA. The Festival is an effort to project Bhadarwah as a tourist
destination across the country and it was in this back drop that tour
operators from various parts of the country were invited to participate
in the Festival as state guests.
Needless to say, with immense natural beauty,
Bhadarwah has been called as Minni Kashmir though there had been no
effort to harness its tourist potential. It was for the first time when
Mufti Sayeed declared Bhadarwah as an autonomous Development Authority so
that the Little Paradise could be developed as a tourist destination. But
the scheme got a fillip only when Ghulam Nabi Azad became Chief Minister
of Jammu and Kashmir and decided to represent Bhadarwah in the State
Assembly.
As a matter of fact, Azad nourished dreams to
bring Bhadarwah on the tourist map at the national level when he was
Union Tourism Minister, but he couldn’t implement his plans because those
sitting at the helm of affairs in the State were not interested. Rather
they felt jealous about the tourism potential of Bhadarwah and considered
it as rival of Kashmir. This was proved when the then State Government
led by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah had refused to provide security to the
film units interested to shoot their films in Bhadarwah after the
unprecedented success of Noori, shooting of which was done in this
beautiful valley. It is another thing that no films could be shot in
Kashmir also after eruption of militancy in mid eighties. Being the last
corner of Jammu and Kashmir adjoining Chamba district of Himachal
Pradesh, traffic to Bhadarwah has been sparse. But to make Bhadarwah a
tourist hub the construction work on Bhadarwah, Bani, Basolhi and Bhadarwah
Chamba Roads will have to be accelerated.
Surrounded by snow capped peaks of Kailash
Mountain Range, and thick forests of Deodar trees, Bhadarwah, indeed
looks to be a paradise when one enters its main gate, Amira Nagar. Apart
from being naturally rich, Bhadarwah is rich culturally as well. The
language that is commonly spoken here has such alphabets that no other
language of the world has. The tradition of doing agriculture on
cooperative basis is also unique and many festivals like Kanchoth
and Jatran that are celebrated here are not celebrated else where.
Exhibition
 Besides inaugurating air
service during Kailash yatra and laying of foundation stone of the
Tourist Reception Centre, the Chief Minister also inaugurated an
exhibition wherein local products including quality Jam and Jelly
produced by Fruit Canning Centre, delicious apple and pears grown by the
locals, different types of fish by the fisheries department and hybrid
variety of vegetables grown by the farmers besides colorful blankets
woven by the local artisans were displayed. However, my stall of
sculpture pieces made of wood and stone and model of Bhadarwah made of
Plaster of Paris (POP) were the biggest source of attraction, which were
highly appreciated not only by the Chief Minister, but the group of the
visiting tour operators as well.
But mere praises do not serve
the purpose. It needs much more to do to satisfy an artist who wants to
spread his art from one corner to another. Artists and artisans can
produce art pieces, but marketing is not their subject. If the Government
really wants to encourage heritage and culture in the Mini Kashmir, it
will have to market the art of Bhadarwah across the country and encourage
the local artisans. Needless to mention, the art pieces are very expansive
and as such cannot be marketed locally.
Lal Singh Expresse
Anguish
Former Minister and incumbent
Lok sabha Member from Doda- Udhampur-Kathua constituency, Ch. Lal Singh
has expressed his resentment for not being called on the opening of
Bhadarwah Kailash Yatra Festival. His supporters claim that the CM had
deliberately ignored Mr. Singh in view of his popularity as an up right
leader. However the CM has attributed not inviting the MP as an official
mistake.
Mr.
Singh being an elected MP of the area the organizers of the festival
should have invited him. But Mr. Singh is not the only exception. There
are many more that have a grudge against the organizers of Bhadarwah
Festival for not inviting them, too. The Chief of Tourist Reporter and
J&K Reporter, Ranbir Manhas was also cons-picuous by his absence.
Needless to mention, his contributions as a journa-list to highlight the
tourism potential of Bhadarwah have been great. He also claims that he
too was not invited. Mr. Manhas is a son of the soil. In view of his rich
contributions he too should have been invited.
The
episode though looks to be an ordinary matter, yet it speaks volumes
about the lack of general knowledge of the organizers and their negligent
attitude. The CM in his capacity is justified to say that it was an
official mistake, because he is not supposed to know about insignificant
things like as to who is being invited and who is not.
Bhadarwah
Development Authority (BDA)
To explore the natural beauty of the virgin
valleys of Jammu and Kashmir and to exploit their tourism potential, the
State Government has set up various development authorities. I do not
know as to what is happening elsewhere, but as far as Bhadarwah
Development Authority is concerned it seems, the officers concerned have
done a good beginning at least. In fact I had a chance to visit the World
Wide Web site of Bhadarwah Development Authority wherein a very good
collection of rare photographs have been made available for the tourists
to watch them. The effort is appreciable because it justifies Bhadarwah
being called as the Little Paradise or Chota Kashmir. I have also
learnt through news papers that a huge sum of money is being spent by the
Authority on different developmental schemes.
However, the Authority has a long journey to
tread before this virgin valley becomes a fully developed tourist
destination equipped enough to cater to the changing demands of the
visiting tourists. The collection of photographs is still incomplete.
There are no photographs of Jaai, Baggan, Padhri, Naglotan, Bhal Padhri,
Kanthi Dhar, Rehoshira and Subar temples, Thanthera, Tipri and many more
beautiful places like them. The photographs that have been displayed are
also without captions. Someone who has some knowledge of the history and
culture of Bhadarwah should be engaged so that at least captions of the
photographs could be given according to their historical, cultural or
scenic background. The Authority will have to make a wider publicity of
the tourism potential of Bhadarwah through local as well as national
media so that more and more people are attracted and encouraged to visit
this neglected paradise. But before that, suitable infrastructure to
accomm-odate tourists should be developed. Initially paying guest scheme
can be introduced, but for that also private houses should be changed to
suit the requirement of the tourists.
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