An industrialists’ body here Saturday appealed to the Governor administration to ensure smooth flow of traffic on the strategic Jammu-Srinagar national highway, claiming that traffic mismanagement has caused huge losses to the sector.
The nearly 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linkingKashmir with rest of the country, has been closed for civilian traffic twice aweek — Wednesday and Sunday — from 4 am to 5 pm till May 31 to facilitatesmooth movement of security convoys, drawing sharp criticism, especially fromthe mainstream parties and business community in the Valley.
“The mismanagement of traffic movement on the highwayis resulting in considerable delay in the receipt of raw material from Kashmirand dispatch of finished products from Jammu to Kashmir, Doda, Kishtwar andother parts of the state,” Bari Brahmana Industries Association (BBIA)president Lalit Mahajan said after a meeting here.
He said though the highway remains operational for civiliantraffic for rest of the days of the week, the goods from the twin capitalcities take days together to reach the desired destinations, resulting in steephike in the transportation charges.
“Industrial units are suffering badly due to transitdelay of the goods resulting in huge financial losses. In case of perishableitems and milk products, 100 per cent losses were reported in someconsignments,” Mahajan claimed.
He said the BBIA appeals to Governor Satya Pal Malik, his advisor K Vijay Kumar and Inspector General of police (Traffic) Alok Kumar to ensure smooth flow of traffic on the highway from Jammu to Srinagar and vice-versa.