For the first time J&K’s Road Transport Corporation has started a tourist bus to the border area of Teetwal close to the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district to boost border and religious tourism.
The development comes over a month after Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated Maa Sharda Devi Temple in Teetwal through video conferencing.
The temple located in Teetwal on the banks of the Kishanganga River was built by Save Sharda Committee to revive the centuries-old pilgrimage to Shardapeeth temple in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
After the inauguration, Shah said work for resuming the pilgrimage to Sharda Peeth on the lines of Punjab’s Kartarpur Corridor was on.
The luxury bus to Teetwal was flagged off on Tuesday from Kupwara by Deputy Commissioner Doifode Sagar Dattatray.
The bus service will shuttle from Kupwara to Chitterkote at a fare of Rs. 140.
The head of the Save Sharda Committee headed by its Ravinder Pandita met J&K LG Manoj Sinha on April 14, in New Delhi and demanded a bus service from Srinagar to Teetwal and Kupwara to Teetwal to help tourists with the public modes of transport to Teetwal in the wake of the inauguration of Sharda Temple.
“The pilgrims have to take a taxi and bear heavy charges for visiting Sharda Temple and we welcome the decision of the LG Government for starting the bus service that will help the locals as well as tourists,” Pandita said.
“We also thank DC Kupwara and the administration for the much-needed support to boost border tourism,” Pandita said.
Teetwal village connects with PoK through a footbridge which was closed in 2018 amid tensions between India and Pakistan.