Traders have demanded all-weather connectivity between Kashmir and the rest of the country as the frequent closure of Srinagar-Jammu National Highway has hit them hard.
The highway was closed for traffic intermittently for morethan 30 days in the past five months, which created shortage of essentials andled to price hike in the Valley. The situation turned worse when the governmentbanned civilian traffic on the highway for two days a week in April month. Nowthe restrictions have almost been done away with but still the civilianvehicles cannot move on the highway once in a week on Sundays to facilitate the”smooth movement” of the security forces convoy.
President Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries SheikhAshiq said the highway traffic ban and its frequent closure dealt a “doublewhammy” to businesses in Kashmir. He said that freight has increased manifoldand markets have been hit by shortage of goods. “We have taken up this issuewith the Governor. Let us see what happens. The business community is having atough time,” he said.
Chairman Kashmir Economic Alliance Muhammad Yaseen Khan saidit was “a shame on part of the government” that Kashmir didn’t get anall-weather road in the past seven decades. Besides frequent closure of thehighway and the traffic ban, Khan blamed “mismanagement by authorities” for themess.
“Now even a brief drizzle results in the highway closure. Webelieve it is being done deliberately to marginalize Kashmir’s economy,” hesaid and demanded that the work on Mughal Road should be expedited to providean alternative road link to Kashmir.
The business community has, over the years, been dismayed byinordinate delay in either starting or finishing several important projectsthat could have eased the connectivity issues, such as expansion of Srinagarairport, railway connectivity, four-lanning of Srinagar-Jammu highway andconstruction of Mughal Road tunnel.
In 2017, the Airport Authority of India announced expansionof Srinagar Airport so that it could facilitate operation of flights evenduring low visibility as the expansion also envisioned installation of updatedinstrumentation landing system which guides aircraft in landing and taking offduring low visibility.
“But despite passing of two years since the announcementproject is yet to be completed, meaning that whenever the visibility at theairport goes below 1000 metre mark, the operation of flights come to a halt,”said a senior AAI official.
It is pertinent to mention that in last one month over 130flights were cancelled, at the same time airfares have skyrocketed costingfortunes to travel from Srinagar to any other part of the country.
Similarly, the lone surface link is awaiting construction oftunnels at several places to make it all weather.
However, the project has missed several deadlines due to”lackadaisical” approach of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
This project was divided into six sub-projects, widening ofSrinagar-Qazigund road (68-Kms), Qazigund-Banihal (16-Kms), Banihal-Ramban(36-Kms), Ramban-Udhampur (43-Kms), Chenani–Nashri (12-Kms), Jammu-Udhampur(65-Kms).
According to NHAI official, work on the Jammu side iscomplete, while the areas which along the highway which are prone to landslidesare still awaiting upgradation and construction of tunnels to make it allweather route.
Similarly in the age of technology, the Kashmir is stillbereft of railway connectivity.
A railway line up to Udhampur on Jammu side, which hasboosted industrial sector there, was completed a long ago but rail networksanctioned in 1995, which would connect Kashmir with other states, is still farfrom completion.
In the past 24 years, this project has faced cost overrun ofover Rs 25000 crore. Its estimated cost at the start was only Rs 2500 crore.
Similarly, the tunnel on Mughal road is still on papersmaking this road also prone to weather vagaries.