Asia’s largest tulip garden in Srinagar will close for visitors on Thursday. The garden was thrown open to visitors on March 16, nearly 10 to 15 days ahead of schedule due to a surge in temperatures in the valley. The tulip garden witnessed an overwhelming surge of visitors, with nearly 3.70 lakh people, including 2.10 lakh domestic tourists and over 1,100 foreigners, visiting the garden since its opening, signalling the revival of Kashmir’s tourism sector, which was severely impacted by last year’s terrorist attack in Pahalgam. It is likely that the visitor count to the tulip garden this year has touched a figure of 3.9 lakh, which is a record in the recent times.
Holding on to a fading transport tradition
Tonga (horse cart), once a lifeline of the city, is making an unexpected comeback in Srinagar, which remains bustled with modern traffic. The 70-year-old Ghulam Rasool Kumar is reviving the traditional mode of transport and bringing back memories of a time when life moved at a gentler pace. Kumar’s horse-drawn tonga has become a moving symbol of nostalgia. A resident of downtown Habba Kadal, Kumar once operated tongas during their peak in the 1960s, when they were the primary mode of transport. However, as modern transport took over in the late 1980s, the profession faded, forcing Kumar into years of labour work.
Universities scrap MoUs with US-based NGO
Three Kashmir-based universities have terminated their academic agreements with a US-based NGO Kashmir Care Foundation (KCF), Atlanta, following “adverse intelligence inputs”. The three institutions—University of Kashmir, Islamic University of Science and Technology, and Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir—have issued formal orders cancelling their memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and other agreements with the KCF with immediate effect. All three universities stressed that no funds were exchanged and no liabilities were created during the period the MoU remained in force.
Fayaz wani
Our correspondent in Jammu and Kashmir
fayazwani123@gmail.com