Kashmir highway closed for civilian traffic, only vehicles with essential items allowed

Srinagar, Mar 23 : The 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, the only all weather road connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, was closed for civilian traffic from Monday till March 31 to curtail the spread of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, only vehicles carrying essential commodities would be allowed on the highway.
However, people stranded in Jammu and Srinagar alleged that the decision was taken without giving them time to reach to their respective destinations.
“Civilian traffic would not be allowed to ply on the highway from either side from Monday till March 31,” a traffic police official told UNI.
He said only vehicles carrying essential commodities would be allowed on the highway, adding that on Monday traffic would be allowed from Srinagar to Jammu.
He said only one-way traffic would be allowed to ply on the highway as the road is very narrow and damaged at several places between Ramban and Ramsu where only one vehicle could pass easily.
Meanwhile, commuters alleged that they have been stranded in Jammu from last three days due to closure of highway. ‘What about those, who are in Jammu from the past three days. Please allow passenger vehicles towards Srinagar so that we can go home,” Tariq Maqbool, a passenger stranded in Jammu, told UNI.
Similarly, people who were stranded in Srinagar are urging authorities to allow them to travel on the highway. ‘Yesterday, we were stuck at Gazigund and then returned back to Srinagar. Now, police is saying only essential commodities would be allowed on the highway from Monday. This is not good,’ Amarjeet Singh, a passenger stranded in Srinagar, said.
Frequent closure of the highway since its expansion has been a major cause of concern for the people living in Kashmir valley, where suspension of traffic results in increase in the rates of essential commodities by any folds.
Meanwhile, repair work was going on war-footing after snow clearance operation was completed earlier this week on Srinagar-Leh national highway, which remained closed for the past about three months due to accumulation of about ten to 12 feet of snow and avalanche threat. However, the traffic in the Leh highway would be allowed only after March 31.
The snow clearance operation was also started on the historic 86-km-long Mughal road that remained closed due to accumulation of snow for the past about three months.
(UNI)