Tourist from Maharashtra dies in J&K’s Srinagar

Srinagar: A tourist from Maharashtra died on Tuesday in Jammu & Kashmir's Srinagar city where he was admitted for treatment in a hospital.

Officials said identified the tourist as Radha Krishna Goswami, aged 72. He was staying in a hotel in Gulmarg hill station when he fell ill on Tuesday morning.

“He was shifted to a sub-district hospital in Tangmarg town where doctors referred him to Srinagar’s SMHS hospital for specialised treatment. He succumbed in the SMHS hospital today,” the officials said.

"Police have taken cognisance of the incident and after completion of medico-legal formalities, the body will be sent to the deceased’s native village in Maharashtra,” the officials added.

The union territory received a record-breaking 2.11 crore tourists last year and by June this year, the number had already gone up to two crore.

Rising to the ever-increasing number of tourist arrivals, the local tourism department has opened new destinations like Gurez, Bangus Valley, and several others. The department has accordingly increased the number of rooms available to the tourists.

A large number of homestay facilities have come up in Srinagar city and around the tourist destinations of Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonamarg.

The gradual improvement in the law and order situation and opening of newer avenues like mountaineering, trekking, water sports, etc., have come in handy for the tourists choosing Kashmir as their vacation destination.

The return of Bollywood to Kashmir has also helped increase the tourist footfall during the last three years here.

This year the number of pilgrims to the Amarnath cave shrine had also witnessed a huge rise. So far nearly five lakh devotees had 'darshan' inside the holy cave.