Jammu, August 02: Sometimes one wonders about the wisdom of the people running the government in Jammu and Kashmir for not utilizing the vast potential that this state has to take this state to higher levels of development; but then who will bell the cat as all the people responsible for running the affairs are engrossed either in amassing wealth or waiting for a miracle to happen.
This state if governed by a professional leader and assisted by people in a corporate style can work wonders and become a role model for others to follow the developmental path in their respective states.
Take for example the pilgrim tourism as a separate case since the state is known for general tourism but hardly propagated for the pilgrim tourism related aspects barring Mata Vaishnodevi yatra and Amarnath yatra.
These two yatras are also not managed professionally to maximize the benefits for the state but instead used for political purposes which has benefited none but the outsider Pakistan as its interests are served due to our lethargy and political instability.
Jammu and Kashmir is rich not only in natural beauty but also religious history and possess numerous such places which can attract lakhs of pilgrims to the state from all faiths only if these are managed with extreme professionalism and an eye on utilizing the resources for the development of the state.
While Mata Vaishnodevi Yatra is an example of how a religious place can add hundreds of carors of rupees to our economy we have not placed such priority on other pilgrimages like Amarnath yatra, Machail Mata Yatra, visits to Hazratbal and other such Muslim shrines where holy relics are placed which can attract lakhs of devotees to the state.
At an estimate the Amarnath yatra which was not more than 25000 pilgrims in early eighties once crossed six lakh figure only to come down to a couple of lakhs due to bad management, political turmoil and communalizing the yatra.
Now who benefited and who lost? The result is obvious none other than our enemy Pakistan won because it served his purpose of keeping the terror pot boiling while Jammuites and Kashmiris proved to be the biggest losers on account of huge economic activity within these two months.
Thousands of porters, transporters, shopkeepers, guides and other tourism related people lost a huge opportunity to earn huge amounts every year only due to disturbances and poor management by the Management Board and lack of professionalism by the government to handle the political turmoil.
Suppose these six lakh pilgrims who visited the Amarnath cave were limited to six lakhs only and they spent a meager amount of Rs 100/- per pilgrim per day during the yatra which lasts only three days. The amount that this state and its people would get or add to the economy would be six carors per day which comes to a whopping 1.8 billion rupees during the 30 day yatra period.
Now who is benefiting by this much of amount even as we know any pilgrim visiting Amarnath spends at least seven days during and after yatra and spends much more than what we calculated above indicating that only a single yatra if managed properly and professionally without any political interference keeping all the ecological concerns in mind would add billions of rupees to our fragile economy and in Jammu and Kashmir we have many more similar places, which can be utilized for such purposes.
The holy relic of Haraztbal is another example in question as thousands and thousands of Muslims devotes would be interested to visit the shrine if it is managed that way and similarly other pilgrimages, like Machial Mata, Shahdra Sharief, Shankaraachrya, Makdhoom Shab etc can become religious and economic hubs for the state.
The problem lies only in the professional attitude and sincerity of the powers that be to divert their attention towards the economic uplift-ment of the state and finding innovative ways to add to our economy without exerting much energy and time consuming cumbersome traditional procedures.
Hope someday some somewhere initiates the change as we have already set in motion by doing our bit by giving these wakeup calls.