The Omar Abdullah led J&K government should understand this point that people will not judge its worth by the eloquence of the promises made rather, they would gauge its merit by the actions it takes towards fulfilling those promises. It is intriguing that the people at helm have spent crores of rupees on rhetoric and holding sessions across the country to woo tourists and other stakeholders ensuring world class edifice and seamless facilities but on ground things seem to have deteriorated especially in case of Jammu region where government’s promises were seen broken after the first spell of snowfall, which the authorities had predicted a fortnight ago and were warning the people about the difficulties that would follow after this short spell of inclement weather condition.
As far as its own machinery is concerned, the government has been exposed badly because the best tourist destination in Jammu Province saw the indifference rather than the neglect of the man who has got the tourism portfolio under his charge because his lofty claims collapsed under the weight of inaction. What has come to fore after the snow spell in Patnitop has exposed a troubling gap between rhetoric and reality.
If tourism had been the government’s priority in the Jammu region, the people must have witnessed different conditions as road clearance is not a big deal but unresponsiveness has taken the toll and the ever enthusiastic tourists and the host hoteliers were the victims.
The situation in Patnitop was dismal with tourists stuck in their hotels as road clearance was nowhere in sight, those who wanted to visit this place after the snowfall were denied access due to blocked roads giving a setback to hoteliers and other stakeholders as there were only black crows (inhabitants of mountains) which have the access to see the snow clad peaks of beautiful tourist resort apart from the stranded tourists who somehow reached the resort ahead of snowfall.
The apathy of the government has crossed the limit as Patnitop Hotel and Restaurant Association had to issue an appeal to clear the snow on Kud-Patnitop road on priority in the interest of tourists as well as hoteliers. Reportedly, the Association had expressed resentment over inadequate response of the authorities to the grievances of tourists visiting Patnitop.
The situation was further exacerbated by the snapped power and water supply, which reportedly has not been restored even after 72 hours. The time, which should have been meant as a heyday for the hoteliers and other stakeholders of the tourism industry, has become nightmarish, thanks to the phlegmatic attitude of the government led by Omar Abdullah.
It is really shocking that the press releases and statements of the ministers regarding tourism promotion in Jammu region hold different content but in reality the prejudice with this region is the same as it used to be decades ago.
