Bhaderwah - the ‘Heavens untouched’ yearns for infra development
· A land of splendours and surprises, a place where God's architectural experience and elegance is felt, locals and tourists are equally responsible for the litter around
By: Sameer Bhasin
It’s case of ‘man proposes and man disposes’ (and not that man proposes while God disposes as is the common adage), when it comes to the development of tourism in and around Bhaderwah, a picturesque less-explored destination, in Jammu division of J&K, enveloped with snow-covered peaks and verdant forests.
While the efforts being taken by government agencies, mainly the Bhaderwah Development Authority (BDA) seem not quite enough, there is no sign of private sector building infrastructure, setting up resorts or raising quality hotel accommodations. The BDA, though, claims to promote tourism in Bhaderwah with the slogan – ‘Heavens Untouched’.
There are hotels, lodges and guest houses built by the locals, but most of them offering poor quality services and shabby rooms only. Bhaderwah, on an average received 18000 to 20000 visitors in a day during peak season in 2019 that was before pandemic brought life to a standstill everywhere. July 2019 saw a record number of 2.15 lakh tourists arriving Bhaderwah.
It was somewhere between 2016 and 2019 that the locals started developing whatever tourism infrastructure they could. They started opening the doors of their houses, giving tourists the option of homestays at nominal tariffs.
However, with the passage of time and reportedly not receiving adequate support from government agencies, while most of these homestays converted into guest houses and lodges, the litter and waste started flowing over roads or into the streams flowing along the town. Also, the quality of services being provided started getting poorer and poorer.
While the maintenance of Gatha Lake and Resort appear satisfactory, at Jai Valley one gets to see litter of packets of chips, empty beer bottles rolling along the meadows, polythene bags lying here and there. With only a single government restaurant and that too outsourced to a private player, locals make hay offering tented accommodations on whatever rates they want (though negotiable). A few Igloo Huts, supposedly run by the BDA, appear to be always occupied by the army men deployed in the vicinity.
On the brighter side, Bhaderwah has to offer a series of tourist attractions including lush green meadows of Padri Pass, which is around 40 km from here, on the interstate road linking Chamba, is a potential tourist hotspot owing to its easy accessibility for the travellers visiting Himachal Pradesh. The Bhaderwah town is surrounded by plum, apple, and peach orchards, giving it the title of Mini-Kashmir. The temperature here hovers between 13 degree Celsius and 18 degree Celsius, thereby offering tourists the much-needed respite from the scorching heat in the plains.
For its high literacy rate, Bhadarwah is known as Kerala. Some writers name it as the Switzerland of India. Bhadarwah is a land of splendours and surprises, a place where God's architectural experience and elegance is felt. Its singing rivulets, clear blue sky, unparalleled majestic mountains, vast expanses of alpine vegetation; emotional people and diversified culture; spiritual, placidity, fragrant bloom of tulips leave every tourist spell- bound and ineffable. The valley is a kaleidoscope of nature with different colours of God's creativity. This place has been an important centre of cultural, social, religious, political and art related activities. Wild herbs found in these areas have their own uses and charm. It seems that God has created this valley in leisure time. The Splendid springing valley, a place of Beauty and Grace, Bhadarwah - in Puranas as Bhadrakashi, is a beautiful valley situated at a distance of 205 km from Jammu to its North.
Jai, the everlasting green valley lies on the North East of Bhadarwah town about 32 Kms away connected to the town by beautiful Bhadarwah-Jai Link Road. The Valley runs in kilometers bisected by the rivulet called Jai Nallah flowing towards the Thathri Tehsil Headquarters where it merges into Kalgoni Nallah which has mighty waterfalls and rocks which pose challenge to expert rock climbers. The Jai nallah is popular for Trout Fish Culture.
One feels in the lap of Nature on entering the Valley from “Jai Top”. The nature’s lap is surrounded with lush green coniferous trees, towards its east lies Bhalessa Valley to be connected through Jai-Bhalessa Road with a distance of 46 Kms, the road encompasses the beautiful hunting grounds of Bachdhar. Visitors can also pitch their tents here for weeks together and enjoy horse-riding, trekking in the cool blue waters of mountainous streams.
