How tourism is impacting picturesque Gurez
Cultural Encyclopedia of the Dard Tribe: Journey through Gurez and Ladakh (2024). “The inhabitants of Dawar are transforming their ancestral, cultivable land into hotels, cafés and restaurants without taking sustainability into consideration." A little further from the villages, is the 330 MW Kishanganga Hydroelectric Project, which was started in 2018. Ironically, electricity supply to the valley is patchy and unreliable.
Dawar was electrified last year, but almost 90% of the Gurez Valley relies on small diesel generator sets for electricity. Factor in the tourists who demand 24-hour power, and imagine the diesel-fuelled air pollution. The “untouched beauty" and “pristine peace" that travellers seek when they make plans to visit “offbeat destinations" such as Gurez is under threat.
“Both the state and Central governments should be more mindful about the protection and the conservation of this rare Shina-speaking tribe but unfortunately they have failed to develop a socioecological model of tourism. If this is not done, Gurez will lose both its unique ethnicity and ecology," Rasool Mir cautions. Rasool Mir says the three sub-regions of Gurez Valley speak different languages.
Kashmiri is spoken in Bagtore, Dawar is bilingual with both Kashmiri and Shina in use, and Tulail residents speak Shina. “The difference comes from the fact that Bagtore is closer to Bandipora, has more access to the Kashmiri heartland, and the people of Bagtore are migrants from Kashmir who came and settled in Gurez. The people of Dawar are fluent in both Kashmiri and Shina due to trade links with Kashmir and also due to intermarriages," explains Rasool Mir.
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