In Naya Kashmir and J&K tourism circuits, Gurez valley is craving attention and finesse

Part of the ancient Silk Route, Gurez, barely five hours drive and 125 kilometres from Srinagar, has numerous pluses. It is littered with history, breathtaking picturesque places, peaks, waterfalls, camping, trekking, and everything that Switzerland and the Alps can boast off or offer at exuberant prices, including Schengen visa hassles and other issues. It is little wonder that in spite of potholes, a lack of public toilets, and decent eateries, the stretch from Bandipura to tehsil headquarters in Dawar is filled with adventurous campers and trekkers who come by and set up tents in its gorgeous vistas, carrying their own tents, stoves, and blankets. Few would know that a waterfall and a peak are named after the legendary and mystic poetess Habba Khatoon in Gurez. F D Roosvelt, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and several other dignitaries are said to have visited Gurez. In fact, the first thing that strikes a visitor at Dawar is the sight of a huge mountain that appears like a pyramid, and it is named Habba Khatoon Mountain. A few centuries ago, Gurez connected the Kashmir valley to Gilgit and the rest of Central Asia. The Kishenganga River, with its clearest aquamarine, has an impressive length of 150 kilometres and offers rainbow, grey, and silver freshwater trout. When cooked with Garlic Lemon Butter Herb Sauce, the trout tastes certainly the best in the world. It is a pity, though, that cooked trout fish is not easily available because hoteliers want 24-hour notice and a prior commitment, which is not doable for those visiting Gurez for a night or so. The local Rajma rice is not half as good as Ramban on the Jammu-Srinagar Highway. Gurez is incidentally famous for kala zeera [black cumin], but priced at Rs 7500 a kg, one would think twice before buying even 100 grams of it. But Gurez’s sufferings are too many, and some are man-made due to callousness. The valley filled with a roaring Krishna Ganga river has great power generation potential. In fact, going by the local voices, in 2020, Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited started a project to bring electricity through a 33 kV line from Bandipora to Gurez, but the KPDCL failed to construct the proposed line due to the tough topography of Razdan Top, where the line had to pass through, and the scheme was shortly closed. As a result, local residents and tourists alike get less than seven hours a day of electricity supply when the temperature in August and September can dip below ten degrees Celsius. All attempts to provide electricity through high-capacity diesel generators and low-investment solar panels prove inadequate and modest. Tourists like this correspondent had to constantly worry about recharging their tablets and mobiles and had to forgo some TV news appearances simply because internet connectivity was far from stable. The other irritant is frequent stoppages at the various security posts where the same Aadhar is checked, rechecked, and physically verified in at least three places on a stretch of twenty kilometres in rain or cold. It would be a dream sort of thing if a Digi Yatra-type app was developed where a tourist’s personal information was shared across the state just to ease the pressure on our security forces. J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha acknowledges inadequate power supply as an issue. Sinha was on a visit to Gurez, oblivious to the presence of a visiting journalist on a holiday in the same region at the same time. Inaugurating the ‘Shinon Meeras’, the Shina Cultural Centre at Gurez, Sinha admitted that the power sector had remained a matter of great concern for the people of Gurez. “We are working on a war footing to strengthen the power infrastructure; the NHPC power project and work on the 33 kV line have been expedited, and work on infrastructure for inter-connectivity between the villages has started,” the LG said optimistically, adding, The tourism sector has witnessed a massive increase from earlier 700–800 tourists a year to 35,000 this year until 15 August 2023. Today, the increased tourist influx to Gurez has strengthened the local economy and is providing large employment opportunities to the people." A Mumbai-based group of Bengalis visiting Tulail at Sheikhpora and Chakwali village, the last habitant on the Indian side, would go on describing these villages as “mesmerising places” beyond words. “As if we were going back a hundred years in a time machine of a Hritik Roshan film,” said a 60-plus Ms Ghosh, who was on an impressive twelve-day tour from Srinagar to Leh with nine others on a traveller’s tempo. Bilal, selling hot tea, Maggi noodles, and wafers at Kondiyal Top, aka Gurez Top, says inadequate power supply is the biggest hurdle for tourism. “Our solar panels do not last even a full night as the sun is not out most of the day. However, the day we get connected to a grid, Gurez would pose a challenge to Switzerland,” chuckles Bilal, as if laughing at his own wishful thinking. Gurez Valley is home to the Shina-speaking tribe of Dards, numbering more than 30,000 and living in the Gurez and Tulail areas. Lt. Governor Sinha, trying to accelerate development in the entire state, inaugurated the country’s first museum for Dardis, which traces the journey of Shina culture, languages, and the Gurezi way of life. “I believe Shinon Meeras will become the centre of attraction for travellers visiting this best off-beat destination in India,” LG Sinha said on a visit to Gurez on August 28, 2023. One wishes Sinha had travelled by road; he would understand some of the real problems and issues being faced by tourists and locals alike. For instance, the drive from Srinagar to Dawar or Tulail is incredible in terms of sheer scenic beauty. But restaurants, kiosks, etc. are almost missing. Even at Wular Lake, one of the largest freshwater lakes in South Asia, there is virtually nothing to eat for visiting tourists, not even the unappetizing Rajma rice or vegetable pakoras. Seriously, if Srinagar, Gulmarg, and Pahalgam can attract 1.88 crore tourists to J&K in 2022, why can’t places like Gurez be made part of it to make it cross the two crore figure? The author’s friend and head of Kashmir Mayfair Travels, Naeem Sheikh, thinks it is certainly a doable thing.