By: Tasaduq Hussain
Srinagar: A key attraction to tourists in the Kashmir valley – houseboats – are struggling to stay afloat with the sector having come to a grinding halt post abrogation of Article 370 followed by the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Kashmir Houseboat Owners Association (KHBOA), the umbrella representative body of the houseboat owners in Dal Lake and other water bodies – believes that the lackadaisical approach of the government has added to the miseries of the houseboat owners.
“Our sector has been hit hard and the decisions made regarding the renovation of houseboats which are in dilapidated conditions have made things worse for us,” Chairman of KHBOA Hameed Wangnoo said.
“In 2019 all the tourists putting up across the Valley were forced to leave the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir including the Yartis from the houseboats, hotels, leaving our business and our staff in a bad shape ,” he said.
“It led to the loss of Rs 150 crore, besides loss of thousands of jobs”, he added.
Wagnoo said that in the tourism industry, houseboat business was the most affected sector, as there was no other source of income for people associated with it.
“Houseboats are made of sensitive wood that requires time to time renovation and maintenance but the government has stopped giving timber to owners used for repairing and the owners aren’t allowed to undertake the renovation work at all,” he said.
Hameed said that in recent days seven houseboats have drowned for the want of renovation.
“Since the government has entirely barred the repairing work, owners don’t have enough money to undertake any work by its own,” he said.
Wagnoo said if the government fails to protect and preserve the major tourist attraction, the houseboat sector, that holds an exclusive significance across the globe, the industry “will come to an end soon”.
“At least 3 lakh people are associated with it, who will lose their livelihood,” he said.
Blaming the government for not initiating the concrete steps towards the revival of the tourism industry, Wagnoo said that the government recently launched the business revival policy, “but by far has been unable to implement it as those at the helm of affairs claim to have no funds for implementing it.”
He said that very few owners have borrowed money from the bank but the association has asked for the business loss from the government.
“The post August 5 lockdown last year devastated J&K’s economy and pushed the tourism industry to the back foot, and it, in particular, impacted the houseboat sector badly as it needs maintenance throughout the year”, the KHBOA chairman said.
Regarding the guidelines implemented by the government, the chairman said that the owners aren’t eligible to renew any registration.
“We want the guidelines to be simplified”, he added. – KNO.
