Managing traffic on an artery that for days doesn’t exist

Managing traffic on an artery that for days doesn’t exist

Sheikh Qayoom

The harsh winter this season has ensured that the Jammu-Srinagar highway has become a nightmare for both commuters and officials in Jammu and Kashmir. The nearly 300-km artery is the lifeline for the landlocked Kashmir Valley as all essential supplies are routed through this road. Whenever the highway gets blocked, prices of food items go up in the troubled Valley. This means that mutton, poultry products and vegetables become very expensive.

Rains in the Ramban-Bannihal sector trigger landslides at multiple places while snowfall in the Bannihal sector along the Pir Panjal mountain range makes the highway impassable. Hundreds of trucks, light motor vehicles and their occupants have remained stranded on the highway for several days this winter as road clearance operations have to wait for the weather to improve. “Snow and landslide clearance operations cannot be started as along as it is raining or snowing. We have suffered casualties due to landslides sweeping away our debris-clearing bulldozers along with their operators in the past, said an official of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) that maintains the highway in its most treacherous sectors.

Those who have travelled on the highway and have been unfortunate to have been stranded have horrific tales to tell. Ali Muhammad Dar, a resident of Badgam district, was stranded at Nowgam in the Bannihal sector for seven days during heavy snowfall in February 2005. “I was on way to Jammu. After crossing the Jawahar Tunnel there was a fierce snow storm. In less than one hour, seven feet snow accumulated on the road. Luckily we could reach Nowgam village from where the highway ahead was not even visible. “Villagers gave us shelter in their homes,” he recalled with gratitude. “After four days the stocks of foodstuffs and charcoal for the firepots exhausted. It was a nightmare I can never forget till I am alive”, Dar said. (IANS)

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