It came as a great surprise to me to read a piece tilted “The idea of Incredible Kashmir” by a former Assistant Director of Tourism in GK on October 18. I don’t quite know whether to feel flattered or disturbed to have made it onto the radar screen of a former government tourism official. Clearly, he has taken much time to look into a proposed eco tourism development plan for the Varmul area so that he could voice his opposition in such an erudite manner. I so wished he had also taken some more time to talk to me about the exact details of what is being planned. It could have put most or some of his concerns to rest.

In his essay, he refers to an article that had previously appeared in this paper, describing our intent to place Varmul on the eco and adventure tourism map of Kashmir. This follows our experience in the Northeast region of India where our efforts to create community based eco- tourism villages with tribal communities have been a great success. The eco-tourism villages there are designed and constructed by the locals themselves, using only local and environmentally friendly materials. In the case of Assam, the abundant and locally available bamboo is used as primary construction material. Floors are made of wood. Because there is little or no power supply available in remote areas of the state, solar lamps and solar water heaters have been installed in attached Western style bathrooms (the only deviation from traditional design) and connected to eco friendly sewage disposal systems.

While I agree with the author that “Indian states are incorporated with different geographical background,” leading him to conclude that a project that may be viable in Assam may be inappropriate for Kashmir, I beg to differ with the reasons he advances for that assumption.