Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday said that Kashmir was witnessing a 'golden period' in terms of tourism. In the last few months, 80 lakh tourists visited the Union Territory. He said tourist arrivals and flight operations broke the 20-year-old record. There is a golden period in the history of Kashmir in terms of tourism and those involved in the tourism sector should take full advantage of it. The influx of eight million tourists to Kashmir in the last few months is a major achievement.
Read: Spring blooms boost Kashmir tourism, nearly 1.80 lakh footfall in March
Responding to a question, he said that a large number of tourists had broken all records of flight operations of Srinagar International Airport in previous years. Today all the hotels are pre-booked and people from other states of the country are finding it difficult to get air tickets to Srinagar. This is for the first time that the government, along with the locals, is cleaning Dal Lake.
People and the locals of Srinagar are on the same page and took a pledge to see the Dal Lake clean from weeds and other pollutants, he said on the sidelines of flagging off an event titled ‘Athwas’, a unique partnership between citizens and authorities for rejuvenation of Dal Lake. Under the project, de-weeding and dredging will be conducted in collaboration with the citizens. He said that in the past many decades, Dal Lake was never as clean as it is at present. “Credit goes to the administration as well as the people,” he said. Director Beneficiary Transfer (DBT) mode has helped a lot to ensure the cleaning of the lake on war-footing.
