To beautify the world famous tourist resorts of Tangmarg and Gulmarg, a slew of measures including afforestation of the barren land have been initiated to attract more tourists to the Valley.This was stated by the Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Ghulam Hassan Mir during a review meeting convened to review the measures taken for the afforestation by the concerned department. Among others, the meeting was attended by Chief Conservator of Forests, Conservator of Forests and pisional Forest Officer, Tangmarg. It was informed that one lakh quintals of firewood shall be made available to the mosques in the Valley, besides 29,775 cft of timber has been provided to the deserving persons of Tangmarg area. About 53,608 cft of timber is also available with the Department for distribution among the consumers.
The Minister was also informed that at Guguldar a forest hut with all basic facilities shall be constructed. The Minister urged the officers of Forest department to ensure availability of adequate stocks of firewood for mosques in the area and directed for setting up of sale depots at Warapora and Khemberpora for facilitating the people adding that additional 10,000 cft of timber shall also be made available for the consumers of the area. He also asked for establishing of Nursery at Tangmarg for cultivating plants of economic importance on modern pattern in consultation with the experts of SKUAST, Kashmir.