Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Thursday said that lack of infrastructure and mismanagement of traffic on the national highway is causing ‘crippling losses to the state economy and suffering to the general public’.
“The frequent closure of the Jammu-Srinagar national highwaydue to landslides and shooting stones, unscheduled declaration of one waymovement, the two days closure for movement of Security Forces and theharassment of travellers due to multiple check points has resulted in thedevelopment of an abnormal situation of people being dissuaded from using thehighway,” KCCI said in a statement.
“Although the highway suffered from minor problems earlieralso but the condition since last year has been unprecedented. The journey fromUdhampur to Srinagar a mere distance of around 200 Km- has turned into anightmare. Vehicles laden with goods have been stuck at various places forweeks together. Documents submitted by members of the KCCI show that sometrucks have been stuck at Udhampur since April 10,” read the statement.
Transportation of livestock including poultry and sheeptowards Srinagar and movement of fruits from Srinagar to outside has also beenseverely hit, it said, adding fruit transported from Kashmir has reachedvarious mandis in a bad condition.
Tourist vehicles are also stopped and we have reports thattourist groups have often taken more than 20 hours to reach Srinagar which hasdisrupted their booking schedules and programmes. Tourists are therefore avoidingtravelling by road. In view of the huge monetary risk involved, movement ofperishable goods including frozen products has reduced to almost nil.Transporters are now flatly refusing to ply their vehicles on theJammu-Srinagar Sector. Losses caused to various sectors are mounting as thesector has been rendered unviable due to the reasons enumerated above.
“The government needs to take immediate corrective measuresto rectify the abnormal situation which is clearly moving towards an economiccollapse,” it said.
KCCI also stressed the authorities for early opening of theMughal Road and in this regard appreciates the efforts put in by the DivisionalCommissioner, Kashmir for issuing necessary directions for diverting roadopening machinery for this purpose.
The KCCI strongly recommends that the Mughal Road should bedeveloped as an exclusive corridor for uninterrupted movement of civiliantraffic during the summer months in addition to correcting the problems on theNational Highway.
The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industry also urgesfor conversion of the Foot Bridge to Motorable bridges, as originally plannedadequate augmentation of personnel for management of traffic throughout thevalley is also recommended.