NEW DELHI: Jammu & Kashmir BJP leader Ravinder Raina on Tuesday played cricket with Pahalgam locals in a bid to revive normalcy in the Valley, which witnessed a sharp decline in tourism after the April 22 terrorist attack at Baisaran meadow.
In the clip, the BJP leader was seen bowling and batting with the local kids of the Valley.
The efforts are being made from several quarters to revive tourism in Kashmir as travel agents from across the country will converge in Kashmir this weekend to boost tourism in the Valley.
The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), which is one of the country’s biggest umbrella organisations for agents with over 1,600 members, will be holding its meeting in Srinagar and Pahalgam from June 13-16 to instil confidence among the fraternity.
Srinagar hotels and flights commanded a big premium before the Pahalgam attack as Kashmir was seeing unprecedented tourist footfalls post Covid. But after the April 22 attack, tourists already there left Kashmir in droves and those who had plans to visit cancelled the same.
J&K is currently focussed on ensuring a safe Amarnath Yatra as they hope that will send out a message that tourists can return to Kashmir. The yatra duration has been curtailed to 38 days, instead of 52 days in 2024, and will be on between July 3 and August 9, 2025.
A total of 581 companies from various Central Armed Police Forces, along with personnel from the Jammu and Kashmir Police, will be deployed along the pilgrimage routes to ensure safety of the lakhs of pilgrims.
The tourism industry in Kashmir has been badly hit since Pakistan-backed terrorists killed 26 civilians in Pahalgam on April 22. The attack sent a shockwave across the nation, prompting the government to take kinetic action against terror camps deep into Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).
The Indian forces, in a big action, destroyed the terror camps of Jaish and Lashkar located in Pakistan's Bahawalpur and Muridke.
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