Srinagar, Apr 30: The tourism traders said the restriction placed by the government on outbound vehicular traffic from Srinagar to Jammu today created inconvenience for many tourists.
 The traders said the restrictions disturbed those tourists who as per their itinerary were scheduled for departure from the Valley by road.
 The government had ordered one-way vehicular traffic from Jammu to Srinagar to facilitate the journey of Darbar Move employees from Jammu to Srinagar.
 “It is strange that at the cost of the tourists’ convenience the government by its ordered sought to facilitate smooth journey of its employees,” they said.
 “I had booked five railway tickets for today for a customer for onward journey to Kolkata. But my party travelling in an Innova informed me that they were not allowed to proceed ahead of Panthachowk,” said a local tour operator.
 He added: “My party blamed me and demanded the money back.”
 Past president KCCI Rouf Ahmad Punjabi said it was quite unprofessional on the part of the government to create inconvenience for the tourists. “If there was really any need to make one way traffic, small vehicles from Srinagar could have been allowed,” he said.
 President Travel Agents Association of Kashmir (TAAK) Rouf Ahmad said on their taking up the issue with the government, “small tourist vehicles were allowed from Srinagar to Jammu after 2 PM.”
 “We received countless calls from our customers saying that they were not being allowed to proceed ahead from Pantha Chowk. However, we took up the issue with the authorities and were relieved in the afternoon when the government allowed the vehicles to move on,” he said.
 He said last year the tourists were exempted from such an restriction, “but we don’t know why today they did not allow the tourists till we took up the issue.”

Lastupdate on : Sat, 30 Apr 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 30 Apr 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 1 May 2011 00:00:00 IST