Promoting tourism sans infrastructure has been the bane of any region or state and for that matter Jammu has nothing to boost and wherever any significant point exists there is no infrastructure. This has been the story of the region which has always talked about promoting tourism in any form. Every government which came in power promised and talked high about tourism as a revenue earner and promised to get the infrastructure in time. The promises remained there on the paper. The present PDP-BJP Government too kept the pace of promises. And the story continues. When talks about developing Suchetgarh as a tourism spot on the pattern of Wagah in Amritsar was floated it looked a quite high order to promote tourist footfall and stay in Jammu region and reality is it is really a tall order. Situated just 28 km from the winter capital of Jammu and the nearest point on the India-Pakistan border, Suchetgarh no doubt had the distinction of the entry point to India and was a trade and travel corridor before partition connecting Sialkot in Pakistan. Mooted by Congress-PDP Government led by Ghulam Nabi Azad in 2006 the widening of Satwari- Airport- RS Pura Road was to complete by 2009. But on the ground things have not moved a bit. The road connectivity is there but poor traffic management has made the stretch a motorists nightmare. Officially launched in 2010 the border tourism has failed to take off and now the present dispensation PDP-BJP combine has renewed the promise of reviving the dead project. The State Government plans to promote ‘border tourism’ to Jammu’s frontier areas, such as Suchetgarh and Chakan da Bagh, on the pattern of Wagah border. The lack of infrastructure too has kept in abeyance the promotion of Ranjit Sagar and Baghliar Dams, Surinsar-Mansar, Jai-Bhadarwah and Sanasar as ‘ideal tourist destinations’. Most of the tourism related projects within the Jammu province remain in a state of limbo and have run out of time frame of completion. Unless and until a sincere effort is put in this direction by all the stake holders nothing can move on this front except the promises made by politicians time to time.
