Mudasir Rashid
Ganderbal: The 434-km Srinagar-Leh national highway was thrown open for vehicular traffic today after remaining closed for nearly five months owing to heavy snowfall during winter. HMV with a fleet of light passenger vehicles moved from Srinagar to Leh, marking the reopening of the highway which connects frontier region of Ladakh with rest of the state.
Lt Gen J.S.Sandhu GoC 14 Corps and P.J.S Pannu 15 corps, Leh Councillor Kachu Ahmad Ali Khan with other district officials SDM Kangan, Peerzada Zahoor, Tehsildar Gund, Naib Tehsildar Gund, SHO Sonamarg Nissar Ahmad were present at the formal opening of the road at Zero-point of Sonamarg. Lt Gen J.S Sandu 14 Corp and PJS Pannu 15 Corps lauded the role of the Border Roads Organisation and other workers for working overtime to make the highway traffic worthy. The highway was closed for traffic on January 6th this year after high altitude areas of the Valley including the 11,578-foot high Zojila pass experienced heavy snowfall.
As per the details available with Kashmir Age, the snow clearance work got over on last week, while the trials were undertaken using light vehicles to ascertain that the road is fit and safe for all vehicular traffic. Due to unprecedented snow as compared in last few years, clearance operation up the road on the Leh-Srinagar highway for traffic was a drastic task this time.
Srinagar-Kargil-Leh Highway is not only crucial for strategic purposes, but also important to boost the tourism sector in the Leh by road from Srinagar, making it important to open the national highway, both Lt 14 and 15 Corps said today on opening highway.
Now nearly Six to Seven hundred vehicles will cross the road from Srinagar to Leh, 2 lac tourists already visit to valley since last months this year , they added.
Howsoever, various measures to improve the connectivity between Kashmir and Ladakh region with widening of the Srinagar Sonamarg-Gumri road and tunneling at Gagengeer or Z Morh (6.5) km tunnel and Zojila (14.10) km tunnel is also underway so that the Leh region does not get cut off during the winter months.
The snow clearance operations, began on March this year and were completed by first week of May. Nearly 18 to 30 feet’s of snow had accumulated, however, the great efforts of BRO get the road clear in good manner. Trials were carried out for vehicles after the clearance to ensure that the road is fit for travel.
The Leh-Srinagar highway is an important route for tourism due to its connectivity to the most scenic terrain in region. The highway remains closed mostly from December till May. Last year, the highway had reopened on 30 April while this year due to heavy snowfall and snowslides takes more time to reopen the highway today on 12th of May.
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