Drawing flak, J&K withdraws order directing hotels to cancel bookings

The directive had come at a time when hotels at Gulmarg were pre-booked till mid-March owing to tourists flocking to Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir administration Friday withdrew its order directing hotel owners in a ski-resort in Gulmarg to cancel bookings of tourists to accommodate participants of ‘Khelo India’ National Winter Games after drawing flak.

The directive had come at a time when hotels at Gulmarg were pre-booked till mid-March owing to the rush of the tourists in Kashmir.

Mohammad Aijaz Asad, Deputy Commissioner at Baramulla, said no new order has been issued to cancel the bookings in Gulmarg. “We have not issued any order, and an earlier order has been cancelled. However, it (Khelo India) is a big event for which rooms are required for athletes and officials.”

The order issued by the additional deputy commissioner, Baramulla, drew sharp reaction from the National Conference (NC) leader and former chief minister, Omar Abdullah, who termed it as "a mindless application of government writ”.

“The games are a welcome addition to our calendar but its mindless application of government writ when the games become a reason to cancel hotel bookings & inconvenience tourists who have booked flights & made their plans well in advance,” Omar tweeted.

The week-long games are scheduled to start from February 26. ‘Khelo India’ Winter Games are national-level multidisciplinary grassroot winter games of India and are organised by the Winter Games Association of J&K under the support of J&K Sports Council and Ministry of Youth Services and Sports.

The mega event includes snow skiing, snow rugby, snow ice stock, snow baseball, snow mountaineering, snow shoe, ice hockey, figure skating and speed skating.