The Hindu : National : Chill-out time on Gulmarg heights

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Thursday, May 11, 2006

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National

Chill-out time on Gulmarg heights

Aarti Dhar

Year-old cable car service turns a big tourist draw

GULMARG: Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu held no attraction for Vardhan, a Chennai-based businessman, and his wife Rajeshwari. They chose to be in the breathtakingly beautiful, snow-clad mountains of Gulmarg in faraway Kashmir, where an added attraction this year is a ride in the world's loftiest cable car service, the Gulmarg Gondola.

"Kashmir is marvellous," said Ms. Rajeshwari. The couple were part of a group of 180 tourists from Chennai. "We took a train to Jammu and hired buses to reach Srinagar." If the gondola was an attraction in Gulmarg, a stay in houseboat was fascinating.

Inaugurated a year ago, the second phase of the cable car project from Kongdoori, 10,050 ft above sea level, to Apharwat, at 13,400 ft, brought Gulmarg on the international skiing map. "The gondola takes riders to the highest skiing point," said Farooq Ahmed Shah, chief executive officer, Gulmarg Development Authority, and managing director, Jammu and Kashmir State Cable Car Corp.

The response to efforts to promote winter sports has been tremendous. "Last year we had 1,000 foreigners for Apharwat and this year we expect close to 3,000," said Mr. Shah. Last year the revenue from the gondola was Rs. 7 crore; this season it is expected to touch Rs 12 crores. The two phases of the ski-lift project cost of Rs 40 crore. It was done with French collaboration. The State Government expects to recover the cost in two years.

The Valley is full of tourists, mostly domestic . Hotels and houseboats are booked until July-end. Business is brisk for traders of handicrafts, spices including saffron and the Kashmiri wazwan. The administration expects 11 lakh visitors this season, more than double last year's number. Militancy seems to have taken a backseat.

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