Srinagar, Oct 25 Commuters continued to suffer as train service remained suspended for the fourth day on Thursday in the Kashmir valley, where Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) has called general strike against the killing of two Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militants in an encounter by security forces in the outskirts of Srinagar.
This is the 10th time that train service has been suspended in the Kashmir valley partially or fully since October 8, when first of the four phase Urban Local Bodies (ULB) polling was held.
We could not resume train service for the fourth day in the valley as a fresh advisory was received on Wednesday night from police that train runs will remain suspended for the security reasons, a senior railway official told UNI.
This is the fifth consecutive day train service remained suspended on Badgam-Srinagar-Anantnag-Qazigund in south Kashmir to Banihal in Jammu region since Sunday, when three Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) were killed in an encounter in Kulgam.
Later, JRL called for a strike on Monday in protest against the death of seven civilians in a blast near the encounter site.
He said train service which was normal in north Kashmir on Sunday remained suspended from Monday. No train will run on Srinagar-Badgam-Baramulla in north Kashmir track also, he added.
Trains could not run on Tuesday when there was ” Lal Chowk Challo” and JRL had called for ” Kulgam Challo”.
Most affected are commuters travelling daily on Baramulla-Srinagar-Banihal tracks. People travelling to Jammu also prefer train upto Banihal because of one-way traffic on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.
He said railway department is acting on the advice of local administration, particularly police since the safety and security of passenger was important. He said in the past railway suffered losses worth crores of rupees in violence during protests and hartals.
However, train service has become very popular as it is cheap, fast and safe against other mode of transport available in the valley.UNI
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