Srinagar, Dec 22: Gone is the era when people planning to travel to Jammu by road would look puzzled during winters when bad weather hinders travel prospects on the mountainous route traversing the mighty Pir Panchal range. 
 While some would rely on the words of cab driver looking for passengers at this historic spot –the Tourist Reception Centre, others would look for personal contacts with the traffic police.
 But given the absence of proper communication systems, most would often end up stranded on the 300 KM highway or would have to make a U-turn after long exhaustive journey.
 For now, however, this uncertainty has become a thing of past. Thanks to the hi-tech life size LED screen at the TRC, which flashes highway status update: 24X7.
 And the life size screen, installed by the Beacon in collaboration with Tourism department,  interests not only those aspiring to travel but even almost every passer-by at this busy square near the City centre of Lal Chowk, as the LEDs keep glowing all the time.
 Evenings make the screen more attractive as these Light Emitting Diodes look magnificent at the square in the heels of Koh-e-Sulaiman.
 Aspiring travellers have hailed the development saying the LCD makes their travel plan convenient.
 Looking at the highway status scroll, Ghulam Nabi, an elderly driver recaps his days of youth when he as a driver would have to take risk of ferrying passengers towards the winter Capital during hostile weather conditions.
 “The snowfall would at times even affect the landline phones and we would be left with no options but to take a chance of opting for the travel,” he recaps. 
 But luck wouldn’t favour all the times. “I along with passengers would at times get stuck for days together on the highway,” he says.
 Prominent player in the field of tourism, Manzoor Ahmed Wangnoo who also heads Nigeen Lake Conservation Organization, looks at the TRC development as a welcome step.
 “Tourists would always be in fix about road travel to Jammu during winters and our inability to give them the correct status report would ultimately affect the hospitality we are known for,” Wangnoo told Greater Kashmir.
 Sources said the LED screen idea was the brainchild of Chief Engineer Beacon, Brigadier TPS Rawat who had observed that aspiring travellers were facing inconvenience in getting proper news about the highway status. And finally after consultation with the Tourism Director, Farooq Ahmed Shah the idea realized sometime back.
 Inspector General of Police Traffic, Hemant Kumar Lohia welcomes the move.
 “This is a positives step towards dissemination of information to public because earlier they used to face difficulties,” the IGP told Greater Kashmir.
 He said various government organizations were trying to make the best use of information technology to benefit the people.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 IST