Man Eater In The City

By Mohamad Yousuf

When a wild animal occasionally visits the interiors of Srinagar city everybody get panic and feel insecure. Just on hearing the presence of wild visitor in the city we start shouting against the Wildlife Department and ridicule the poor animal whose domain we have snatched. On spotting them in the city we some time even burn them alive or shoot them at site with guns, though we know the ways and methods to keep them away. But what about a Python, which is silently sleeping in the outskirts of Srinagar city for long? This is non else but a serpentine road called By-Pass. The premier road which is running from Pathachok to Shalteng has virtually become a dreaded man eater serpent. This killer road has eaten up hundreds of people ever since it is constructed.

With the increase of vehicular traffic it is becoming more and more hazardous than before. There always remains a threat of life to thousands of people living close to By-Pass. It has become more Khoni Road in Srinagar than the infamous Khoni Nallah on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

This writer has seen many dreadful accidents occurred on this road. Few years back an uncontrolled truck hit a lady who was waiting for bus near Tengpora Bridge. On reaching to the victim we found her one leg laying at one place and rest of the body far away which shook every by passer there. Another surprising accident occurred during night when a family of Gujars (Nomads) was escorting a herd of sheep on way back to their home land in Jammu region. A rash truck driver killed more than 150 domestic animals of the herd and two of their escorts. After losing its control the truck stuck in an open wide ditch. Later after searching other missing women she was found lying in the deep dug ditch under a wheel of the truck. She was pulled out live and unhurt from the wheel. It was nothing but a miracle. On Tuesday evening (20th April 2010)) one elderly resident, 75 years, of Alnoor Colony, Hyderpora, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Shah was hit and run by a fast driven car near Classic Hospital when there was heavy down poor in the city. The poor resident was going to mosque to offer prayers. He is critically injured, suffering multiple fractures on his lower limb. Being an acute diabetic patient he is fighting for life in Bone and Joint Hospital for last three days. This all happened due to pathetic condition of service road. The old man was forced to walk on main busy By-Pass. The deep dug open drains on service road of the By-Pass don’t permit free movement to pedestrians here.

There is water and only water everywhere all along this road making impossible to walk around here. These open drains have become “Mot Ka Kuan” (death trap). Now the question arises, who is responsible for Mr. Shah’s accident? Is it the fast running car or the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) which has left the drains half done and made impossible for citizens to move around on foot path of service road?

Is there anyone who could address this grave situation or is there anyone else who could file a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) against the agencies looking after this dreaded man eater road (By-Pass). Someone has to come forward to save the precious lives of people here.

Published in Daily Greater Kashmir on April 28, 2010

Scaling A New High

Throwing Peaks open in Ladakh for climbing delights Mohamad Yousuf

This refers to the writ up “Mountaineering on Ladakh peaks gets green signal” written by Arif Shafi Wani, (Greater Kashmir, Sports page April 15, 2010). I.M.F stands for Indian Mountaineering Foundation and not Indian Mountaineering Federation as mentioned in the report. Indian Mountaineering Foundation is a controlling body of Mountaineering in India. It is obligatory for every Indian or foreign team to book the particular peak with I.M.F and seek necessary permission before launching expedition in Indian Himalayas. It is not only because of security reasons that the I.M.F books the peaks but for avoiding jumbling of climbers of different nations on the particular peak as otherwise there could be clashes among mountaineers for choosing the climbing route and setting up base camps etc.

It is heartening that the Govt. of India has finally thrown open the mighty peaks in Ladakh Himalayas for climbing. I remember in early seventies I had to obtain permission from Superintendent of Police, Srinagar for visiting Leh. It is laudable step taken by Defence Ministry. It would certainly help promote adventure tourism in Ladakh region but what about Kashmir? We do not have lofty peaks in the valley but we have world’s best trekking routes all around which could lure thousands of foreign and domestic trekkers here. It is true that the presence of troops on the trekking routes does not permit tourist players to organize trekking expeditions freely and fearlessly for intended tourists. The most beautiful trekking routes in Kashmir we have are from Sonamarg to Gangabal and back to Kangan via Naranag or a trek from Bandipore to Gangabal and back to Sonamarg or Kangan. One can find variety of flowers and more than fifty mountain lakes on this route which include famous Gangabal, Gadsar, Krishensar and Vishensar etc. The other best trekking route we have in Kashmir is from Pahalgam to Kulun via Sunmous or Yemhar pass. Both these routes are suitable not only for trekking but for ski-touring as well. In 1984 this writer successfully led a ski-mountaineering expedition from Pahalgam to Surfrah in Sindh valley which is still a record.

We need to explore more routes for trekking and ski-touring in the valley for which we have more potential than climbing peaks in Ladakh. Mountaineers are less but trekkers are in abundance, so Kashmir should take benefit of it. We can attract a large chunk of tourists to our trekking areas. The Tourism Department must make its effort to get clear all these trekking routes from the troops forthwith. It is true that besides Pirpanjal range, we have number of small but more challenging peaks in Sindh and Lidder valleys which include Umbrella peaks, Mosquito peak, Cnf Carnedo, Innominate, Valehead, Crystal Peak, Blade/Arrow, Nichnai peak and Mount Harmukh etc in Sindh valley, while Mount. Kolahoi and Sheeshnag peak etc. in Lidder valley and Sunrise, Sunset and Tatakoti peaks etc. in Pirpanjal range. Rauf Tramboo has well said that the tourists feel scared in mountainous regions of Kashmir due to presence of troops but his suggestion to charge fee to foreign expeditions to earn revenue for the state is not fare. He must know that the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, Delhi is already charging huge sum on account of permission fee to foreign expeditions. Charging more fees by state Government may cause damage to adventure tourism. . Money should not be consideration for our Tourism Department if we really have to boost adventure tourism in the state, instead they should pay some incentives to adventure promoters/operators. As per my knowledge the I.M.F was providing some share of the money earned through fee to Himalayan states but I fail to understand where this money has gone in J&K. Surely this money was not properly utilized for the purpose it was provided to our state. I remember sometime back the Ex-Director General Tourism/Ex-President of J&K Mountaineering and Hiking Club, M. Ashraf had moved a proposal to raise a sport climbing wall in the valley from the money received from I.M.F but unfortunately this artificial wall never came into existence in Kashmir till date, though there is urgent need of procuring this artificial climbing wall. This could help us to promote Sport Climbing (competitive rock-climbing) and train local youth to Mountaineering. At the moment we do not have trained manpower who could go as liaison Officer with foreign expeditions to Ladakh Himalayas. Surely someone else will be benefited. Pertinently Kashmir has given birth to great mountaineers like Late Master Chandra Pandit, Late Samasar Chand Koul and Late Abdul Rehman (popularly known as Rehman Nanga) who have been part and parcel of earlier expeditions to dreaded Nanga Parbat and K2. We do not have good climbers in the new generation.

Published in Greater Kashmir on April 19, 2010