Pahalgam: Located in in the vicinity of South Kashmir’s tourist hot spot Pahalgam, Aru Valley is located about 12 km from Pahalgam, which in turn is about 54 km from Srinagar. The Aru village is a perfect mix of meadows, lakes and mountains and is famous amongst off beat travelers as a base camp for trekking to Tarsar Lake. However, tourists and locals are dismayed over lack of mobile connectivity in the area.
Aru Valley is a year-round destination and hence, it is visited by locals and seasonal tourists throughout the year but Aru Valley is quite disconnected from the phone and internet services. Many Tourists and Locals who visited Aru Valley on Sunday said that they were disappointed because of the lack of mobile connectivity and felt perturbed there.
“We had come to spend peaceful time here. However, lack of mobile connectivity here is a cause of great concern. In today’s world no one would imagine to remain disconnected from the outside world,” said Sajjad Ahmad Bhat.
One of the Hotelier, Sareer Ahmad while narrating the ordeal said that though BSNL services are running in the area but services are poor due to which tourists and businessmen are facing immense hardships. Besides the BSNL mobile network completely depends on the electricity, once the electricity is gone the mobile connectivity also remains unavailable as long as the electricity.
Meanwhile locals said they have taken up the issue with concerned authorities many times but to no use. They have once again appealed to the Lt Governor to look into the matter to help tourists flow to Aru Valley. Officials concerned , could not be contacted for their response.
