The gavel over Gulmarg hotels

Located at an altitude of 2,500 meters above sea level, the mild weather has already arrived in one of India’s winter wonderlands, the tourist hotspot Gulmarg. The green table meadow in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district extends over three square kilometers, with the imposing peaks and slopes of the Pir Panjal ranges of the Himalayas to the west and the vast expanse of Srinagar and its surrounding peaks to the east.

In the meadow’s very first inn, the two-story Nedous Hotel, the lupines and hollyhocks have begun to wither away. The 137-year-old chalet, with a facade of well-seasoned deodar bark, has been closed with white tape and an official stamp since August 2 of this year.

The hotel has become the first rental structure to be taken over by the Gulmarg Development Authority (GDA) from its first family of hoteliers, the Nedous. Officials with the GDA say Nedous’ lease expired in 1985 and the family was unable to renew it. In 2015, the J&K High Court rejected the plea for extension. This year, the GDA declared the Nedous family as “an unauthorized occupant under the J&K Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1988”. But many local hoteliers regret the decision and also fear for their future. There is no private land in Gulmarg; it’s all government property.

The winter sports destination that will witness the first-ever auction of existing hotels after J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha introduced the J&K Land Grant Rules in 2022, which replaced the 1960 J&K Land Grants Rules. It has infuriated local hoteliers. “Kashmir has no manufacturing industry. The hotel industry has created a strong upper middle class here,” says Amjad Khan (name changed). He is among the 10 hoteliers who have challenged the rules in the J&K High Court on the grounds that they are ‘discriminatory’.

“It breaks my heart to see the Nedous Hotel being sealed. There were no hotels in Gulmarg other than Nedous until the 1970s. I worked at the bar of Hotel Highlands Park, then part of Hotel Nedous. Kashmir’s tourism industry owes everything to Nedous,” said Abdul Ahad Bakshi, who now owns Bakshi Restaurant, popular in Gulmarg.

As the Gulmarg lease case enters its final stages and will come up for hearing on October 27, the future of 52 buildings, including 32 hotels and 20 huts, spread over 80 acres will be redetermined. Of the 2,300 beds in Gulmarg, the rental property has 614 rooms or 1,200 beds. About 2,000 staff and service providers are likely to be affected by the auction as the government has no proposal to retain them. “If the elected government fails to intervene and ensure that leases are not canceled on this scale, the workforce is doomed,” Bakshi said.

The establishment of tourism in Gulmarg

Bakshi is in his late seventies and witnesses the transformation of Gulmarg. He has vivid memories of serving former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and his family. “Mrs Gandhi was a frequent traveler to Gulmarg and last visited in 1983 with her family including Rahul and Priyanka. They always stayed at the Nedous. I had the privilege of feeding the young Gandhis during their stay. Mrs Gandhi was fond of visiting local shrines and always followed local customs when she came in,” says Bakshi.

He says Gulmarg opened up to new hoteliers in 1908. “The then government wanted locals to invest in Gulmarg and became part of Kashmir’s tourism story. Gulmarg today feeds people from three nearby areas by employing the young and old as sled drivers, skiers and guides from Baramulla, Sangrama and Tangmarg,” says Baskshi.

In 1888, Michael Adam Nedou, a European, chanced upon the meadows of Gulmarg. At the behest of the then Dogra rulers, Nedou set up the very first hotel for Europeans and royalty. This was Nedou’s second property after he built the Nedous Hotel in Lahore in the 1870s.

“We were pioneers of tourism in Jammu and Kashmir. The tourism industry flourished and entered the world stage thanks to the Nedous. It took some effort to ensure that the structure retains the historic look and feel that was passed down to us from our great-great-grandfather,” said Aqil Nedou, who worked as director of operations and sales at the hotel.

“Why was our hotel targeted first?” says Nedou, who is related to the Abdullah family, which heads the ruling National Conference (NC). Neudo’s eldest son, Harry Nedou, married Mir Jaan, a woman of Rajput Gujjar descent from Gulmarg. Their daughter, Akbar Jahan, later married NC founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah.

Tourists then started traveling to Gulmarg on horseback. St. Mary’s Church was built in 1902 and as more local tourists trickled in, the Mohinishwar Shivalaya Shiv Mandir came up in 1915 during the reign of Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh. All three structures – the Nedous Hotel, the church and the temple – sit atop three highlands in the bowl-shaped meadow, surrounded by pine and deodar trees.

Abdul Rehman Mir, in his late 70s from Baramulla’s Khawar area, joined the hotel in 1973 as a room service boy. “I have five daughters and a sick wife. They all depended on my salary, which was safe until the police came and sealed the hotel. I have no memories other than the corridors of the hotel. I am unemployed now,” says Mir.

Sheikh Amin, 48, a resident of Baramulla’s Sultanpora, had worked as the hotel’s manager. His daily routine of traveling from his humble village to this luxurious hotel has also come to an end after 17 years. “The eviction came like a bolt from the blue. We had a staff of 55 people. They were all unemployed at once, without prior notice,” says Amin. The hotel visitors’ diary is still full of praise for Amin and his staff. “I have served many high-profile guests at the hotel, but have the most vivid memories of (actor) Shabana Azmi’s stay,” says Amin.

The Nedous Hotel in Gulmarg, 55 km from Srinagar, Kashmir, is closed due to new rules surrounding properties on government land. IMRAN NISSAR | Photo credit: Imran Nissan

Rules and a pushback

According to official figures from the Gulmarg Development Authority, leaseholders pay ₹6 per channel (0.125 acre) of land in Gulmarg; this has not been revised for decades. Gulmarg generates a turnover of only ₹4 crore from these rental properties. The government-run Gulmarg Gondola alone, a ropeway that runs 3.2 kilometers for tourists to get an elevated view of the mountains, earned over ₹100 crore in 2023-2024, according to reports.

If the new rules are enforced, all current leases will be terminated. In contrast to the previous lease period of 99 years, the new lease period will be reduced to 40 years. These rules also deem any person or entity in default under the 1960 Act ineligible to participate in the auction. As a result, almost all current tenants are no longer eligible for competition.

According to tourism department officials, the use of land once auctioned will be diversified into education, healthcare, agriculture, tourism, skill development and development of traditional arts, crafts, culture and languages. The new provisions allow land in Gulmarg to be set aside for self-employment or for housing ex-servicemen, war widows and the families of people who died in military service.

Gulmarg is the main destination of Kashmir’s tourism industry. According to the tourism department figures, the meadow attracted 15.4 lakh tourists in 2022, 16.25 lakh in 2023 and 13.05 lakh in 2024. The figures suggest that more than 75% of tourists traveling to Kashmir visit Gulmarg, the valley’s only ski destination that matches the snow quality of the Alps in Switzerland.

For the first time, those who do not have domicile status can apply for land lease, opening up Gulmarg to major tourism players. Locals see the move as a death knell for Kashmiri investors. Most local hoteliers argued that the struggles of creating a brand, investments and hardships are being ignored while Gulmarg is being opened up to outsiders.

Niyaz Ahmad’s (name changed) grandfather, in his 40s, bought a plot of land at an auction in Gulmarg in 1978 for construction of hotels. “Our family took a loan from J&K Small Scale Industries Development Corporation Limited (SICOP) to invest in Gulmarg and build a 32-room hotel. We started repaying the loan in the 1980s and the struggle started in the 1990s. Kashmir faced unrest and we suffered losses till 2010. With tourism picking up again, our hotels are becoming our deprived,” he says.

He says it was difficult to build trust with tourists, but now that he has built relationships with guests from Russia, Austria, New Zealand and Tibet during the ski season, he is being asked to part with the real estate he manages. “What will happen with 45 staff? No Kashmiri can ever participate in the auction,” he added.

In the 2000s, six hotels were auctioned as the conflict situation in Kashmir showed signs of improvement. These will also be auctioned

Coming to terms with loss

Hotels in Gulmarg are categorized as ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’. Most of the livelihoods are in categories B and C, the middle and lower hoteliers. Gulmarg has 23 leased B-class hotels and 13 C-class hotels. “I lost my husband a few years ago. My two children inherited this hotel from their father. They are now studying abroad. If the hotel is taken over by the government, I may have to ask them to return,” said Shazia Shah, who runs a C-class hotel.

She questions Gulmarg’s careful choice in terms of leasing. “Nearly 6,000 leases in J&K have expired. In Jammu province, around 1,662 expired leases include hotels, petrol pumps and commercial properties. Most of the properties auctioned in 1978-79 had a lease period of 90-99 years, which could be extended after 40 years. The first 40 years expired in 2019, but the Land Grant Rules (of 2022) are now made retrospective applied,” says Sjah.

A senior government official said the elected government has proposed the formation of a committee to look into Gulmarg’s affairs and review the rules adopted by the LG government. Most hoteliers said they were willing to pay rent according to the current market value.

Nedou wants a new lease extension policy to be introduced by the elected government. “The current leaseholders should have first right, just like in the rest of the country,” he believes. He hopes that the government will intervene “so that Gulmarg remains a cultural bridge between the Valley and the outside world”.