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Tourists enjoy snowfall at Pahalgam 07 Jan 2010 (From ANI News)
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Construction of high-rise buildings in Pahalgam
News organization ANI has recently reported a new controversy around construction of high rise buildings in Pahalgam. Classic case of pitting development against preservation of natural environments. A question which becomes out of ordinary in case of a hill resort like Pahalgam where natural environment is what all the play is about.
Here’s the news item:
Pahalgam (J-K), Dec 20 (ANI): Construction work of high-rise buildings is in full swing in Jammu and Kasmir’s Pahalgam region despite the authorities imposing a ban on such activities.
Sensing the adverse effects of the pristine area turning into a concrete jungle, the concerned authorities of Pahalgam had declared an embargo on any new constructions here.
However, despite the ban, the construction work hasn’t stopped and work is in progress at a good number of commercial and residential projects.
Upset at these trends, the locals apprehend that soon the natural beauty of Pahalgam will be eclipsed and it may be no different from other metropolitan cities.
‘The natural beauty is getting destroyed. The Pahalgam we are seeing today is completely different from the Pahalgam, which used to be 20 years ago. Today the region is becoming like any metropolitan city. We have no clue that who is behind all these construction activities. Such infrastructural changes might prove harmful for our coming generations,’ said Manzoor, a resident.
On their part, the officials claim that they are doing their best to stop the encroachments and illegal constructions in the region.
‘We will not allow any kind of dozers in Pahalgam whether they are contractors of government or of any private companies. We will not allow dozers till PDA (Pahalgam Development Authority) permits so that non stop operations can be avoided,’ said Abdul Wahid Tak, Executive Officer, Pahalgam Development Authority.
Despite repeated recommendations by the departments of Tourism as well as Ecology and Environment for imposing a five-year moratorium on building activity in the commercial sector in Pahalgam, concrete structures continue to rise at a fast pace.
Movie ‘Sikandar’ shot in Pahalgam
Filmmakers have once again started rolling their cameras and the valley is filled with the voices of ‘cut’ and ‘action’ now that the film industry has resumed its romance with Kashmir.
The land of breathtaking beauty with its snowcapped mountains, majestic Chinar trees and the beautiful Dal Lake, Kashmir was Bollywood’s favourite setting for romances like “Do Badan”, “Kashmir Ki Kali”, “Jab Jab Phool Khile”, “Aarzoo”, “Kabhi Kabhi” and “Bobby”.
But it is not the mere beauty of the place that is luring the filmmakers back to the region after a gap of two decades. They want to depict its troubled past and the aspirations of the young generation, making Kashmir their latest muse.
Movies like “Yahaan”, “Shaurya”, “Tahaan”, recently released “Sikander” and national-award winning filmmaker Rahul Dholakia’s upcoming “Lamhaa” indicate that filmmakers are looking towards Kashmir with a renewed interest.
“Kashmir is a beautiful place and no one can dispute that but I think there is more to the place than its beauty only. Kashmir has a history and it is time that it reflected in our cinema,” Dholakia, who has directed “Lamhaa” told PTI.
The film, starring Sanjay Dutt and Bipasha Basu, is a love story set in Kashmir and the director hopes that he will be able to dispel some of the stereotypes attached to the region and its people.
The ‘Parzania’ director, who had a tough time shooting the movie in Kashmir after protests by local people, had extensively researched about Kashmir before making it the setting of his film.
“It is a great place and people are nice. Yes, there were certain problems but I would love to shoot there again,” said Dholakia.
Bipasha, who plays the role of a Kashmiri woman in the movie, believes that the film can not be branded as an “art” movie just because it is about Kashmir.
“It is commercial film it can not be branded as an art film. It is the story of Kashmiri people, their problems and their challenges and my role is very dear to me,” she said.
Director Piyush Jha, who shot ‘Sikandar’ in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, Uri and Anantnag areas, said, “I set the story in Kashmir because of the visual metaphor. I strived to contrast the beauty of ‘Mother Nature’ against the cruelty of human nature. The film deals with the universal manipulation of adolescence by the nasty games played by adults.”
“Sikander” depicted the struggle of a 14-year-old boy who dreams of becoming a football player but his life takes a nasty turns when he stumbles upon a gun.
Starring Parzan Dastur, Ayesha Kapoor, Sanjay Suri and R Madhavan, the film depicted the tale of lost childhood and innocence in the shadow of violence.
Actor Sanjay Suri, a native of Kashmir, who visited the place after a gap of 18 years while shooting for the movie, believes that Bollywood is yet to come out with a story about the valley.
“The kind of films that are being shot today should have been made 15 years back. I don’t think Kashmir problem has been explored properly in Bollywood. There have been so many movies on Gujarat riots but there is not a single movie which explores about what happened in Kashmir during the militancy.
“A lot has happened in the last 20 years, the place is still beautiful but the colour has gone,” Suri said.
In the past few years, films like “Mission Kashmir” (2000), “Yahaan” (2005) and Santosh Sivan’s “Tahaan” (2008) have tried to portray the problems faced by the Kashmiris.
Sivan, a celebrated cinematographer, who had captured Kashmir in Mani Ratnam’s “Roja” in 1992, returned to the valley as a director to shoot his fabled story about a young boy and his struggle to reunite with his beloved donkey.
The film tried to look at some of the serious issues plaguing Kashmir through the eyes of an 11-year-old child, whose life seems normal on the surface but is not devoid of the bitter realities of his birthplace.
Actor R Madhavan, who played a kind-hearted army officer posted in Kashmir in “Sikander”, feels that Kashmir should not be looked upon as unsafe anymore.
“They (Kashmiri people) are yearning for normalcy which is sad because the common man is not a militant and it doesn’t matter to him who is ruling. He wants to live life, earn his livelihood and make sure his future generation is safe and sound,” the actor said.
Source: MyNews Network
Efforts on to promote winter sports, adventure tourism in Pahalgam
News Agency of Kashmir 8/27/2009 5:33:41 PM
Srinagar, Aug 27(NAK): Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, Nasir Aslam Wani replying to question of Altaf Ahmed Wani in Legislative Council said that the Department is putting its best efforts for promotion of winter sports and adventure tourism in Pahalgam. Various activities and festivals are being organized to boost the winter sports and adventure tourism in the area adding that the Department conducted Spring Festival at Pahalgam for promotion of adventure sports in Pahalgam, Para gliding was introduced during the festival besides trekking and rafting.
He said that the Commercial White Water Rafting has been introduced in a big way by involving local un-employed youth to start their ventures. This year permission for such activities has been give to 12 registered agencies to facilitate the Rafting for the enthusiastic tourists. In order to promote the sport of Rafting in Pahalgam, 2nd State Rafting Rally was organized this year by the Department. Six local Rafting teams participated in rally.
Trekking equipment like sleeping bags, tents, ruck sacks etc. are being provided to local youth and tourists on nominal charges to undertake various trekking programmes. Trekking equipment Hire shop is likely to be established at Pahalgam for benefit of trekkers. Last year , it was proposed to hold some ski courses at Aru/Pahalgam but due to inadequate snow fall these could not be held. However, during the forthcoming winter, it is proposed to conduct winter sports activities such as snow ski and ice skating at Pahalgam.
In addition to this Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering and Winter Sports conducted various courses in adventure sports in summer as Basic and Advance Mountaineering, trekking, Rock climbing and adventure courses for youth. The Institute a joint mountaineering expedition to Kolhoi with North East Adventure Foundation Gowhati, Assam and Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police. The expedition was flagged off on 4th August 2009 with an aim to study how to control glacier recessing taking care of flora and fauna and to clean the environment around Lidderwat-Satlanjan-Kolhoi area.
An artificial Rock climbing is being planned in the vicinity of Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering and Winter Sports at Nunwun, Pahalgam. The Institute of Mountaineering and Winter Sports also intends to conduct winter packages in coming winter in Pahalgam subject to sufficient snow fall with the aim to carry out recee of the area for ski lifts in Baisaran and Aru, so that during coming years winter sports like skiing can be promoted in Pahalgam.