Lal Draman: Jammu Kashmir's Hidden Tourist Destination Awaits Tourists

It was featured in several textbooks of the erstwhile Jammu Kashmir state in the 1980s and 1990s as being one of the beautiful tourist destinations.

By Amir Tantray

Jammu:Lal Draman (Red Meadow), a virgin tourist destination on top of a mountain in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, is yet to get the well-deserved attention to become a major tourist destination of the region.

Situated at 2300 meters (8900 feet) above sea level, near Sazan village, 21 kilometres from district headquarters Doda, it was featured in several textbooks of the erstwhile state in the 1980s and 1990s as being one of the beautiful tourist destinations alongside Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Sonarmarg, Patnitop, and Sanasar. But, after the arms insurgency broke out in Jammu and Kashmir, this area remained underdeveloped without any road connectivity, due to which it remained out of the purview of the tourism department.

For the last few years, the district administration has tried to attract people towards the area and has organised a few events like the Lal Draman Fair in the summer. On Saturday, the place hosted a winter festival, which was attended by Divisional Commissioner Jammu Ramesh Kumar, DIG Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban range Shridhar Patil, DC Doda Harvinder Singh, SSP Doda Sandeep Kumar Mehta, and other officers of administration, police, and the army, besides people from adjoining villages. An actor, Raja Sarfaraz, was also roped in to perform in the festival.

This place has a huge meadow covered with forest area. Once a person visits there, the beauty of the area forces him to visit again. But despite all the efforts, the administration hasn't been able to attract tourists to the area.

Some drawbacks haven't been addressed either by the tourism department or district administration. Lal Draman lacks any proper camping facilities due to the unavailability of hotels, huts, toilets, and restaurants.

One forest hut was constructed by the administration, which remains confined to official visitors, and recently another hut has been constructed by the tourism department.

Talking to ETV Bharat, Deputy Commissioner Doda Harvinder Singh said that the government is doing its part by developing the area. “We still don't have a road up to the meadow, and people have to travel for half an hour to reach there. The local people will have to cooperate in giving land for the construction of roads, and until and unless people themselves take steps to attract tourists, the government alone can't do anything,” he said.

“We don't even have good hotels dedicated to tourists in Doda town, and in Lal Draman, local people will have to build homestay services. Today we had roped in officials of Bhaderwah Development Authority (BDA) to manage a few things, and paragliding and skiing experts from Bhaderwah and Ramban came, but no local came forward," the DC said.

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