15/08/2026
"MEADOWS ARE LIVELIHOODS NOT JUST VIEWS: HAKEEM YASEEN DEMANDS IMMEDIATE REOPENING OF DODHPATHRI TOSAMAIDAN*
*End The Silence Of A Year PDF Chief Urges LG CM To Revive Central Kashmir’s Economy"
Srinagar August 15: President of People's Democratic Front PDF and Former Cabinet Minister Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen urged Honourable Lieutenant Governor Shri Manoj Sinha and Honourable Chief Minister Shri Omar Abdullah to reopen Doodhpathri and Tosamaidan without further delay and restore hope to central Kashmir.
Hakeem Yaseen said a formal request has already been submitted to both the LG and the CM. He said for more than a year these two gems of Kashmir have remained silent while the families who depend on them have been left voiceless.
"These meadows are not just landscapes on a postcard. For pony men ATV drivers dhaba owners hotel workers transporters and small shopkeepers they are home they are school fees they are medicine and they are dignity. Today that dignity is under threat" he said.
He noted that Doodhpathri was shut temporarily but the temporary has become permanent. Tosamaidan has been closed for over a year. In that time debt has piled up businesses have collapsed and youth have been forced to look elsewhere for work.
"Doodhpathri and Tosamaidan can do what no office job can. They can create thousands of jobs at the doorstep of our villages. They can bring tourists to new areas ease pressure on crowded destinations and put money directly into rural homes" he said.
Hakeem Yaseen said Kashmir’s identity is incomplete without its meadows. "When we open these places we tell the world that Kashmir is safe that Kashmir is welcoming and that Kashmir believes in peace through prosperity. We also tell our own youth that their future can be built here in their own land" he stated.
He added that tourism must not remain limited to a few circuits. True growth will come when we decentralize tourism and let every village with beauty also have a chance at livelihood.
Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen appealed to the administration to take a humanitarian decision and allow activities to resume in both destinations immediately.
He said the administration has the power to turn despair into opportunity and silence into the sound of horses hooves and happy tourists.
The PDF stands firmly with the tourism stakeholders of Budgam and adjoining areas and
Yaseen urges all authorities to act now so that these meadows can once again become symbols of life livelihood and love for Kashmir.