Pune NGO to boost ‘border tourism’ in Kashmir
11 villages have been selected in the initial run for the project which aims at making strife-hit border villages accessible to tourists
With the wheels of tourism humming in Kashmir like never before, a Pune-based NGO is planning to take it a step further: ‘Sarhad’, which is known for its work with students and orphans living in India’s conflict zones, is set to launch its ‘border tourism’ project in Kashmir with the aim of making hitherto inaccessible strife-hit border villages hospitable to tourists.
As part of the project, around 2,000 youths, many of them orphans, hailing from the lower-income groups are to be trained over the next five years.
“We plan to train orphaned youths from the social margins, who have expressed a desire to do something for the development of their backwater, but scenic villages,” according to Sarhad founder-president Sanjay Nahar.
