Kokernag is a famous tourist destination located at around 83 kms from Srinagar. This place is known for its enchanting botanical garden and also hosts one of the largest trout fish farms in south Asia. The moment the word Kokernag comes to our mind, we instantly begin to think about this botanical garden. However Kokernag is much more than that as it is not confined to the walls of the botanical garden or the trout fish farm only. It has been projected in such a manner over the years that its other attractions and the places around it have remained lesser known.
Kokernag is surrounded by numerous hills and mountains covered with lush green coniferous forests. The mountains such as Sinthan top and Margan top, which are around 50 km from the main town of Kokernag and completely connected with motorable roads, are source of numerous steams which join together to form the famous Bringi River. Also, the mountains host numerous lakes such as Chuhar nag, Mawar nag, Shilsar nag, Calcium nag etc. All these features make Kokernag an excellent trekking destination and it has the potential to attract hikers globally if promoted and projected as such.
With the development of NH 244 last year, Kokernag has become easily accessible and all the mountains mentioned above are well connected with macadamized roads. Even some of the lesser known destinations at Kokernag have road connectivity to a large extent. Take for example the second largest potato seed farm of J&K located at Kalnag, village Chree of Kokernag, occupying an area of 700 kanals approx. This farm has exquisite varieties of potato seeds and can be reached after trekking or by riding horses for around 3 kms from the village Chree. Another beautiful but lesser known destination is Famber valley. This valley can be reached after 5-6 hours trek from Sinthan top. This valley hosts lush green meadows, crystal clear waters and abundant fish. Hence it is both, a trekking and fishing destination.
This brings us to a very important question that if Kokernag has so many attractions in and around, why they have remained lesser known and explored. One of the many reasons is that Kokernag lacks quality infrastructure such as hotels, guest houses, huts etc which can accommodate tourists, especially hikers. Apart from few huts and one hotel managed by JK Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC), the private sector participation and expansion by JKTDC has remained stagnant over the years. It has been only in the last one year that few private guest houses and few huts have come up. Apart from these, the overall tourism infrastructure has not grown much.
The construction of infrastructure at Kokernag is governed by Master Plan 2011, implemented by Tourism Development Authority Kokernag (TDAK), which plays an important role in sustainable development of Kokernag. Within the ambit of this plan, the private sector needs to be roped in and taken into confidence to build infrastructure. It is important as government has its own limitations to pursue large scale tourism infrastructure development projects. One example of the importance of private sector participation is the Homestay program initiated by Tourism Department, J&K wherein the households in good and suitable condition can be provided for tourist accommodation and simultaneously generate income for the households. Although a great initiative and in its nascent stage, it has to be supplemented by construction of hotels, huts, cottages etc through private sector. Regular meetings of building operation control authority (BOCA) by TDAK, awareness generation and confidence building in private players can go a long way to fulfill the infrastructure gaps at Kokernag.
All this said and done, one thing needs to be kept into consideration is that whatever the mode of development is chosen for Kokernag, it has to be environmentally sustainable. Otherwise we have had recent instances of 2014 floods in J&K, land subsidence at Joshimath and flash floods at Himachal Pradesh due to lack of environment impact assessment of infrastructure development projects. The TDAK has a long way to go to bring Kokernag and its surroundings on tourist map and beyond the walls of botanical garden.
(Author is a JKAS officer of 2019 batch and is currently Tehsildar Larnoo (Kokernag). For suggestion he can be reached at [email protected])
