Bijbehara, Jun 26: Streams fed by the Lidder river wind alongside the Bijbehara-Langanbal-Pahalgam road, flowing past apple orchards that stretch across villages from Bijbehara to Langanbal.
At Cheeniwader, fresh apple juice boards still hang outside roadside stalls, but their shutters are down.
Plastic chairs outside restaurants remain empty, and resorts that once bustled with tourists have fallen quiet.
The road, once a preferred route to Pahalgam, has remained closed to tourists since the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam attack, bringing the local tourism economy to a near standstill.
For Maqsood Ahmad, the closure has erased the livelihood he built after years of searching for a government job.
The 40-year-old holds a doctorate in Botany from Kashmir University and spent more than 12 years teaching in colleges on a contractual basis.
Unable to secure permanent employment, he opened Snow Cap Apple Juice Corner at Cheeniwader three years ago.
“I completed my post-graduation from Jiwaji University in Gwalior and later earned my doctorate from Kashmir University. Despite teaching for over 12 years, I couldn’t get a government job,” Ahmad said.
“So I started this juice corner. During the tourist season, it earned enough to support my parents, wife and two children.”
Since the road was closed, the shop has remained shut.
“My children study in Classes II and III. It is becoming increasingly difficult to meet their school expenses,” he said.
Ahmad’s story is echoed across Kashmir’s Apple Valley.
According to the Apple Valley Resorts Association, nearly 12 resorts, over 200 juice corners and makeshift shops, eateries, handloom showrooms, besides scores of roadside vendors, depended on tourist traffic along the route.
Business owners say most of them have either shut down or are barely managing to stay open since visitors stopped using the road.
The nearly 40-kilometre route, cutting through orchards and villages before reaching Pahalgam, had witnessed a tourism revival over the past two decades.
Many visitors coming from Srinagar preferred it over the longer Khanabal-Pahalgam (KP) road, encouraging educated but unemployed youth to invest in tourism-related businesses, often with bank loans or leased properties.
Just a few shops away from Ahmad’s stall, Sajad Ahmad Bhat, 41, who holds a doctorate in Education, said he now opens his juice outlet only occasionally.
“There are hardly any customers,” Bhat said. “It has become difficult to keep the business running.”
Nearby, Suhaib Ahmad, a 33-year-old M. Tech postgraduate, said he may have to look for another source of income if the situation continues.
“If business doesn’t resume, I will have to think of other options,” he said.
The slowdown extends across villages including Kanelwan, Poshkeri, Hugam, Darigund, Hatigam, Sakhras, Srigufwara, Sirhama, Budroo, Kathsoo, Levar, Sallar and Kular.
Resort owners, restaurant operators and vendors said they have laid off workers and are struggling to repay loans taken to expand their businesses.
At Sakhras, Manzoor Ahmad Shah, 45 President of the Apple Valley Resorts Association, said local entrepreneurs have repeatedly appealed to the administration to reopen the road.
“We met the Lieutenant Governor (LG). He gave us a patient hearing and assured us the matter would be considered. We are still waiting,” Shah said.
Shah, who runs a resort with a restaurant and handloom showroom, said he laid off all 12 employees after tourist movement stopped.
“There was no work left for them,” he said.
At Cheeniwader, Ghulam Qadir 50, who operates the New Green Valley Resort, said repayments on bank loans have become difficult.
“We took loans to lease this resort because tourism was growing. Now we cannot repay the banks,” he said. “We also had to send our staff home.”
Muhammad Ismail Nadaf, 51 who runs a restaurant on lease, said many families dependent on the tourism season have exhausted their savings.
“We request the authorities to listen to our pleas,” he said. “Otherwise, our families will starve.”
Before unrest disrupted tourism in the early 1990s, the Bijbehara-Langanbal-Pahalgam road was a popular route for tourists and Amarnath pilgrims.
As tourism revived, private investment returned to the corridor, creating employment and encouraging local entrepreneurs to build businesses around the growing visitor traffic.
Bijbehara MLA Syed Bashir Ahmad Shah Veeri said he has raised the issue with LG Manoj Sinha, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
“The resurgence of this route encouraged local entrepreneurs to take financial risks, secure institutional loans and invest in hotels, eateries and showrooms,” Veeri said. “The continued closure has left these investors economically vulnerable.”
Veeri also questioned how the government’s efforts to promote agro-tourism-including the lavender and other aromatic and medicinal plants farm at Sirhama along the same route-could succeed while tourists remained barred from using the road.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti has also urged the administration to reopen the route while maintaining security.
“Security arrangements should remain in place, but the road must be reopened so that people who invested lakhs of rupees in tourism can revive their businesses,” she said.
As evening fell over Apple Valley, only local traffic moved along the road. Ahmad stood outside his locked shop before pulling down the shutter.
“We are not asking for compensation,” he said. “We only want the road reopened.”
