Srinagar, Mar 31 : The 86-km-long historic Mughal road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region, reopened on Saturday for one-way only after remaining closed for about four months due to accumulation of snow and slippery road conditions.
Meanwhile, traffic was also resumed on the road, linking dozens of far-flung and remote areas, including those near the Line of Control (LoC), including border town of Gurez, surrounded by Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), with district headquarters Bandipora after over three months.
The Srinagar-Leh national highway remained closed since December last year though snow clearance operation has been completed.
Heavy vehicles would continue to ply one–way only while two-way light traffic was allowed from both sides on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
”We have allowed traffic on the historic Mughal road from Saturday,” a traffic police official told UNI here today.
However, only one-way traffic will ply on the road, he said, adding that today, light vehicles were allowed from Rajouri and Poonch to Shopian.
There was five to ten feet of snow accumulated on the road, including at Pir-ki-Gali, he said, adding that local administration from Shopian, Rajouri and Poonch put into service and cleared the snow. However, because the road is still narrow due to snow walls on both sides, only one-way traffic will continue till further orders, he added. The road was put through more than a month earlier due to less snowfall this winter.
”We have resumed traffic on the Bandipora-Gurez road, an official of Traffic Control Unit (TCU) told UNI over phone from Bandipora. Traffic is plying from both ways, he said, adding that this winter, the road was closed in December last year due to accumulation of snow and slippery road condition.
Traffic on the national highway, connecting Ladakh region with Kashmir, remained suspended though snow clearance operation has been completed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), responsible for the maintenance of the road.
The opposition National Conference (NC) has criticised the authorities for not allowing traffic on the highway despite clearance of snow early this week.
”We have not received any direction from the authorities to allow traffic on the Srinagar-Leh national highway,” traffic police official said.
”We have to deploy personnel to regulate traffic on the highway,” he said, adding all traffic police officials were withdrawn in December last year when the road was declared closed due to snow and slippery road conditions.
”With further improvement in the weather and road condition, we have allowed two-way light vehicle traffic on the national highway, the only road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country,” traffic police official said.
However, he said, heavy vehicles will continue to ply one-way only. Today, heavy vehicles will ply from Srinagar to Jammu and no heavy vehicle will be allowed from opposite direction, he said.
(UNI)
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