NEW DELHI: Manzoor Kundroo wistfully traces his fingers over the intricate woodwork that lines the interiors of the King’s Ring, his family-owned heritage houseboat and one of many stationed on the iconic Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir.
It’s been the pride of his family for more than 80 years and their main source of revenue but fell into disrepair after a 2009 Kashmir High Court directive banned construction work in the area as part of an environmental policy to protect Dal.
Authorities were also asked to reduce houseboat numbers and not to renew licenses. The order proved devastating for Kundroo and hundreds like him – with owners banned from repairing them, many houseboats began to sink.
A part of King’s Ring sank a few months ago. Today, its woodwork is rotting, and the carpets stink, but Kundroo says he has no money to keep it afloat.
“The boat needs urgent repair work for it to be used, but I have a family to take care of. The money we used to earn from the houseboat was more than enough for us and the boat’s maintenance. Now, it’s not possible,” Kundroo, 39, told Arab News.
A houseboat is a redesigned boat that serves as a home for tourists with amenities on offer; charges vary based on the facilities provided.
They were first built on Dal Lake in the late 19th century as a place for Europeans – banned by the Kashmir king from owning land in the region – to reside in.
Over a century later, houseboats rose to over 3,000 and were often featured in Bollywood films, becoming a tourism mainstay in the disputed Kashmir region.
Before they hit rock bottom, the Kundroo family used to earn $800 a month by renting the facility to local and foreign tourists who visited the picturesque valley and its must-see attractions.
Nowadays, however, he and his extended family of 11 reside in an area adjacent to the houseboat, struggling to make ends meet.
There are over 950 houseboats in Srinagar that are part of an industry that has been an intrinsic part of Kashmir’s cultural heritage for over 150 years, despite decades of conflict in the hotly contested region that India and Pakistan claim in entirety but rule in part.
But the aftermath of political unrest in the past two years and loss of tourism to the valley due to the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown hundreds of houseboat owners like Kundroo into the deep end.
Driven by the industry’s plight, in April, the government said it would allow owners to repair houseboats if they cleared their dues, such as power and water bills, and acquired a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for repair work, which often takes months to process.
But Kundroo, who has switched to a desk job at a tourism company to make ends meet, says it’s a vicious circle – without the houseboat, he cannot earn money to repair it, and without repairs, he cannot rent the facility.
“We could not get the NOC from the government to repair it, and it sank. For the past year, we haven’t paid electricity bills as we don’t have money. We are willing to pay if we are allowed to earn,” he said.
He added that a dearth of tourists to the valley had compounded the issue.
“Despite all the difficulties that the tourism in Kashmir used to face, we somehow used to survive on the income from the houseboat, but that certainty is gone,” Kundroo said.
In August 2019, New Delhi stripped Kashmir of its special semi-autonomous status, placing the region under a heavily militarised curfew, with Internet cut for more than six months.
Tourists turned away, and the numbers reduced to zero a few months later when the pandemic hit and India closed its borders to international visitors to curb the outbreak.
Much before that, Kundroo says King’s Ring had seen better days. It featured in the Kashmir shooting for the 1962 Hindi hit film, Aarzoo and had been “home,” for a few days, to the acclaimed late comedian, Mehmood Ali, father of renowned singer Lucky Ali.
Activists, for their part, said they are concerned about the future of the industry.
“Over 20,000 people are directly dependent on earnings from houseboats,” Yakub Dunoo, president of the Houseboat Association of Kashmir, told Arab News.
Dunoo has been running the “voice of the voiceless people” campaign for the past two years to highlight the issue of boat owners who “are surviving on basic minimum with tourism since 2019 almost down.”
“We have asked the government to waive off all the charges and allow the repair to take place. The conditions are too harsh to fulfil,” he added.
Officials from the Jammu and Kashmir tourism department were unavailable for comment when contacted by Arab News on Saturday.
But houseboat owners such as Abdul Qadir Gasi said they are waiting for the government to “improve conditions.”
“My situation is such that if the government waives off thousands of rupees that houseboat owners owe to the electricity department, I will still not have money to repair the boat,” Gasi, 49, told Arab News.
Dunoo is hopeful of better days ahead, citing an uptick in tourism after the removal of COVID-19 travel curbs.
“If the situation continues like this, there might be some recovery,” he said.
Manzoor Wangoo, president of the Negin Lake Boat Association, agrees but is particularly concerned about Kashmir’s “loss of heritage.”
“Houseboats are an ailing heritage of Kashmir, and we want to preserve it. They need expensive repairs every year so that water does not seep in, but the financial situation of owners is so grim that they can’t do anything,” he told Arab News.
“They are the identity of Kashmir, and if we continue apathy toward houseboats, the next generation will only read about it in their textbooks,” he added.
Wangoo further implored the government to devise a “comprehensive policy” for owners who are already “on the verge of extinction” to preserve the heritage.
Kundroo says that’s all he’s asking for.
“Our main worry is not about money. It’s about losing heritage and history. If the government does not want us to survive as houseboats owners, it should rehabilitate us and give us royalty instead.”