Picturesque Pahalgam, a hill resort community in the India-administered Kashmir Valley, is known for its natural beauty and annual summer Hindu pilgrimage. Given the area’s appeal to tourists, it comes as no surprise that developers are anxious to build. But instead of balancing the interests of residents and developers, a 2005-2025 master plan for Pahalgam’s infrastructure improvements is now the center of a corruption inquiry. Reporter Shahnawaz Khan tells the story of an suspected fraud scheme designed to bring personal gain to the planners
This report is part of The Corruption Notebooks, from the 2011 Global Integrity Report.
–Image Credit: Saad Akhtar
