SRINAGAR: Edwina Mountbatten sipped tea here. Khrushchev’s Soviet delegation walked its wooden halls. In 1947, foreign correspondents wrote dispatches from its snow-wrapped verandas as Kashmir burned during the tribal invasion.Today, it lies sealed. J&K govt took control of Nedous Hotel in Gulmarg — a colonial-era landmark established in 1888 — ending a 137-year-old legacy tied to royalty, revolution, and the region’s political aristocracy.Gulmarg Development Authority (GDA) issued Saturday a 24-hour eviction notice to what it called an “unauthorised occupant”. The lease had lapsed 40 years ago.Perched beside Gulmarg’s golf course with views of Mount Apharwat, the heritage property was widely regarded as the region’s first hotel. Historian Khalid Bashir Ahmad said the Gulmarg property was leased in the late 1800s by Maharaja Pratap Singh’s govt at Rs 500 a year.Its original founder Michael Adam Nedou — a hotelier from Dubrovnik — had earlier established lodges in Lahore and Srinagar. His son Michael Henry “Harry” Nedou embraced Islam and took the name Ghulam Qadir. He married Mir Jan, a Gujjar Muslim woman, and had a daughter named Akbar Jahan — who would go on to marry Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, founder of National Conference.“The elder Nedou also repaired the Maharaja’s huts, while his son ran a pony-cart service between Tangmarg and Gulmarg,” Ahmad said.Known for its wooden log-cabin design, the 24-room Nedous Hotel combined Kashmiri architecture with alpine warmth, offering a panoramic view of meadows and snow-capped peaks. Bollywood touched it too: a hut near the property was the backdrop for the iconic 1973 song “Hum Tum Ek Kamre Mein Band Ho” from Bobby.Historian MJ Aslam said the hotel was the epicentre of Kashmiri hospitality till the 1940s. Lord Mountbatten and Edwina stayed there, as did Maharajas of Gwalior and Kolhapur. In 1955, it hosted a top-level Soviet delegation led by Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin. Major Gen Hiralal Atal referenced it in his memoirs Nehru’s Emissary in Kashmir.Despite its pedigree, the legal foundations crumbled. Govt had leased the 12-plus acre property to Col Harry Nedou in 1963. That lease expired in Dec 1985.The Nedou family petitioned for renewal but received no formal response for years. In 2015, GDA informed them that the administrative department had rejected the request. A show-cause notice was issued the same year.The family, represented by Umer Khaleel Nedou, took the matter to J&K high court. Their petition cited a 2009 committee formed to review such leases and submitted rent receipts of Rs 12,272 from the 1980s.The court didn’t agree. A division bench ruled on Sept 6, 2018, that no rent had been paid since 1990. “The property has been occupied without legal right for over 28 years,” it said.The Supreme Court later upheld the judgment, dismissing the family’s special leave petition. For years, however, no action followed — until now.With the takeover, Gulmarg’s past — stitched together with colonial footsteps, princely holidays, and Cold War diplomacy — slips quietly behind a locked door.
