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Team Omar, on tourism revival tour, holds meet in Gulmarg
On Wednesday, Omar took his council of ministers and the whole administrative set up to a picturesque resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district for a meeting aimed at negating the perception of fear in the Valley.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah is leading from forefront the campaign for revival of tourism in the Valley, which was hit by a terror attack last month.
On Wednesday, Omar took his council of ministers and the whole administrative set up to a picturesque resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district for a meeting aimed at negating the perception of fear in the Valley.
This came a day after a meeting of the council of ministers at a resort in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam. After chairing the meeting at the Gulmarg Club nestled in the meadows and surrounded by mighty pine trees and sparsely snow-clad mountains, Omar took a Gondola (cable car) ride to Kongdori, a bowl-shaped area that lies between Gulmarg and the summit of Apharwat mountain range where the first phase of the ropeway ends.
During the meeting CM Omar said the Pahalgam terror attack has not stalled the conversation around restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and that he had raised the issue at the recent meeting of NITI Aayog governing council.
“No, not at all. If you were to take out the formal speech that circulated in the NITI Aayog meeting, you will find a categorical mention for return of statehood in that ... which was given to the Prime Minister and all the members of the governing council of the NITI Aayog,” Omar told reporters.
Omar on Wednesday chaired a high level meeting of administrative secretaries, HOD’S at Kashmir’s famous ski resort in Gulmarg. While responding to a question whether the Pahalgam terror attack had affected the talk about restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, Omar said: “So, the conversation around statehood has not stalled. The only thing I was unwilling to do was to use the special session of the (Jammu and Kashmir) assembly to talk about statehood. But that does not mean the conversation has stopped. The conversation is ongoing,” he said.
Speaking on the revival of tourism, Omar said that these meetings are part of J&K government’s plan to restore confidence of tourists and its stake holders. People of Kashmir came out to condemn the attack.
“This time people across Kashmir came out in large numbers to condemn the Pahalgam attack. From Kathua to Kupwara, people came out to condemn the attack. There is a big difference between old attacks and this attack on tourists. The government should involve all agencies to unveil those responsible for this terror attack. People of Kashmir were not involved in this, neither were responsible for driving out tourists from this place,” he told reporters at Gulmarg. He also said that decisions about the closure of many tourist places will be reviewed, adding that he can create the infrastructure for tourism and can ensure tourists come and have a good visit.
“But the security of the tourists currently lies with the lieutenant governor, the elected government and the Centre. We need to work together to ensure that what happened on April 22 doesn’t happen again,” Omar said.nOmar said that he wants to convey a message that Jammu and Kashmir is being again opened for tourism. “After April 22 everything came to a standstill. Before people from other parts of the country come here, first we should visit here. On Tuesday, we had a cabinet meeting in Pahalgam and today in Gulmarg. Our aim is to create some sort of activities in these places and also to create publicity,” he said.
