Pulwama: Last week, Anderwali hamlet of Sangerwani village in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district wore a festive look. Amidst a snowfall a group of 8 tourists from Pune city of Maharashtra begun pre-wedding
shoot after they were warmly received and offered traditional salted pink tea and unleavened bread made up of maize flour by local residents.
Yogi, a professional event photographer from Pune, was one among the tourists.
“ This is my second visit to this place, a couple of days ago I was here with my family and found this place very attractive,” Yogi said, adding that he informed his friends, Rohit and Shilpa, about this beautiful place in Pulwama.
He said that the duo is planning to marry in May. They visited Anderwali Sangerwani, which was recently designated as a tourist village by the government, for their pre-wedding shoot with their friends.
“ This is a fantastic place and I enjoyed being here,” Rohit told Rising Kashmir.
He said that with little face-lifting and creation of lodging and boarding facilities this place can become one among the best tourist attractions of Kashmir.
The footfall of tourists to this otherwise lesser known village has created a lot of excitement among local residents who arranged refreshment, horses and heating for the visitors without charging them a single penny.
The residents here believe that constant tourist flow can change their fortunes in the long run.
The residents credit a youth, Adil Jehangir Najar for pulling the tourists to this newly designated tourist place.
Adil, who holds masters in hospitality management, is a resident of Dangerpora locality of Pulwama. He runs a travel agency, “Jannat K Aur Travels”, and has been arranging tours to Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg since 2014.
“ It is my desire that Pulwama gets featured on the tourism map of Kashmir,” Adil said, adding that he is making some efforts at the individual level to realise his dream.
“Since Sangerwani has already been designated as a tourist village by the government, I am attempting to promote it,” he said, adding that he offered his clients to visit this place for which he gave them a rebate of rupees 10,000.
He said that the tourists were inspired by the beauty of this virgin place and on the next tour they pulled up their clients here for a pre-wedding shoot.
He believes that the shoot will help to further popularise this new tourist destination.
Adil is planning to bring more tourists to this place including foreigners.
He demanded authorities for developing basic facilities for tourist stays at the place.
Riyaz Ahmad Kohli, a PRI representative of Anderwali, appreciated Adil.
“ We are thankful to him for doing all hard work in bringing tourists to this place,” Kohli said