Banjosa Lake

The Artificial Lake Dilemma

Seeing the pictures of Banjosa Lake on the social media made me curious to visit the site. I could see a lot of greenery and crystal clear water in the pictures going viral on social media, maybe because it’s the tourist season these days. Well my curiosity took me to Banjosa!

From Rawalpindi in the scorching heat, I decided to pack up for Banjosa Lake. Driving towards my destination I came across the famous army sector Kahuta which is a tehsil in the Rawalpindi District of Punjab Province. It’s a small town with a population of approximately 160,000. It is also the home to the Kahuta Research Laboratories which were founded to undertake the Kahuta Project as part of the atomic bomb project. Before the Kahuta Project, the site was occupied by retired officers of Pakistan Armed Forces and contained a small public community, including a private high school. The place is beautiful but with high alert security, the mobile telecommunication is not functional there, at least when I visited. Travelling further, the shape of mountains and scenery around was astounding and temperature was pleasant to shed all tensions and the burning heat I was experiencing previously. The shape of the mountains kept changing and near river at Azad Pattan, border town of Punjab I entered Azad Jammu Kashmir.

“The only good thing to see there was the greenery and the mountains. It was no doubt a heaven on earth but now let’s discuss the conditions of the lake. In green, dirty water I could only see the plastic wrappers, water and soft drink bottles and edibles floating. There were more than ten thousand tourists visiting the place at that time. The surroundings had poorest conditions with no tourist facility. The parking space was poor and collided buildings were seen behind the tuck shops.”

Yes, an important point of roads arises here – I must mention that the roads are pathetic. It was a terrible, bouncy ride with a lot of dead construction sites, where I could see no labour going on. The roads were dug and left for the water to fill in the ditches.  Finally I reached Rawalakot in almost four hours due to poor conditions of the road. It is a town in Poonch, Azad Kashmir, and is the district headquarters of Poonch Division and Poonch District.  It is linked with Rawalpindi and Islamabad via Goyain Nala and Tain roads, via Kotli Satiyan and Kahuta and also linked with Rawalpindi via Sudhnuti. Rawalakot airport situated in Chak Dhamni has great attraction for tourist. Lodges, government-owned and private guest houses, and hotels are available in different parts of Rawalakot. Attractions include the mountain-based adventure tourism, rock climbing, mountaineering, trekking, summer camping and hiking, water-based adventure tourism, and paragliding. Banjosa and Toli peer two popular tourism destinations in Azad Jammu Kashmir are in this area.

From Rawalakot you reach Khai Gala from where the Banjosa Lake can be accessed. The road is dangerous and semi constructed, rather you will hardly find any proper patch. One must keep painkillers along as the drive will surely give you severe headache. As I reached the lake after a terrible drive it was an even more stunning picture for me. The only good thing to see there was the greenery and the mountains. It was no doubt a heaven on earth but now let’s discuss the conditions of the lake. In green dirty water I could only see the plastic wrappers, water and soft drink bottles and edibles floating. There were more than ten thousand tourists visiting the place at that time. The surroundings had poorest conditions with no tourist facility. The parking space was poor and collapsed buildings were seen behind the tuck shops.

“Now comes the point I am writing on: this artificial lake. It’s a matter of pride, prestige and image of Pakistan. I could see many foreign and local tourists there, but all of them were seeing what I had seen; the filthy lake, the dirty atmosphere, the collided buildings, broken tracks and no parking pavement.”

Now comes the point I am writing on: this artificial lake. It’s a matter of pride, prestige and image of Pakistan. I could see many foreign and local tourists there, but all of them were seeing what I had seen; the filthy lake, the dirty atmosphere, the collided buildings, broken tracks and no parking pavement. These are small, little things that portray Pakistan. I am a patriot and I dislike everything that gives a negative image of our country. Heritage and tourist sites are a main source of publicity and image building of any country, so for a while think what we are projecting in terms of Pakistan. We believe that Pakistan is a blessed country with nature and tourist spots, but why are all these ill maintained. The Government is spending so much on construction of bridges and roads, but why can’t we make proper roads throughout Pakistan? Why just Lahore and Islamabad? The reason to my understanding is that work is carried out at places which are easily seen by masses, but my dear government, think of the economic boost if the tourist spots are developed. Ticketing Banjosa Lake, making resorts and world class cafes there, placing a few souvenir shops, ferry service in the lake, photo booths, tourist guides and signages can make a huge difference. I wonder why any authority does not take action on this, where are the decisions making and planning bodies resting with closed eyes. I am sure that anyone going to this spot would not come back with good memories. These places can be developed into world class tourist sites with minimum effort. The only big thing is the construction of roads. Treating pictures and posting them on social media is of no use unless the experience is improved.

I hope this feature helps the decision makers in waking up and doing something positive for tourism in this country.