It was yet another day of “fear” and “despair” for scores of commuters who intended to travel on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway Wednesday amid closure of the vital road for movement of security forces’ convoys.
The state government on April 3 ordered closure of theSrinagar-Jammu national highway for all types of civilian traffic for two daysa week (Sunday and Wednesday) until May 31, from 5am to 5pm, to facilitatemovement of security forces’ convoys.
A visit to some spots along the national highway Wednesdayrevealed that the new express highway—connecting Lasjan area of Srinagar withGalandar in Pampore—wore a deserted look, while only a handful of civilianvehicles were allowed to ply on the road only after the concerned sectormagistrates had given them “special passes”.
The police and central reserve police force (CRPF) hadestablished multiple checkpoints along the highway to curb movement of civilianvehicles.
Unlike April 7 (Sunday)—the first day of the national highwayban—the government had Wednesday exempted Srinagar-Baramulla highway from therestrictions in the wake of general elections slated in the northernparliamentary constituency on April 11. The decision, an official source said,was taken to ensure smooth movement of poll staff and poll material to Kupwara,Baramulla and Bandipora districts.
A sector magistrate, deployed at a national highway junctionto facilitate emergency cases, said: “Those who desperately needed to travelwere provided with immediate travel permits and there was no chaos or anycomplaint anywhere on the highway”.
A group of people, intending to travel from Pampore toQazigund, however alleged that they were stopped at multiple checkpoints on thehighway despite having the travel permits. “Earlier, we were not able to locatethe sector magistrate but somehow local youth helped us and we managed passesafter waiting for an hour,” they said.
The group had to attend a funeral of their close relation inQazigund area of southern Anantnag district.
“There was no other vehicle, except ours, plying on theroad. There was a thick presence of forces personnel all along the highway,”said Aijaz Ahmed Dar, who was part of the group. “It was a scary travel, butsomehow we reached in time and participated in the funeral prayers of ourdeceased relative”.
An official source said that a large number of governmentand private employees couldn’t attend their duties due to suspension of publictransport on the national highway.
“My salary will be deducted every Wednesday because of thehighway closure. I will be suffering for none of my fault. I urge thegovernment to revoke this order forthwith,” said an employee, working in aprivate firm at Awantipora.
“I managed to reach office in my own vehicle but there wereseveral employees who couldn’t reach their offices in absence of their ownvehicles. The government should revoke this order so that no employee misseshis duty,” said Abdur Raheem, a government employee at Pulwama.
During the day, officials said, movement passes were issuedby concerned magistrates to emergency cases near Awantipora, Padgampora,Galender and Panthchowk.
A movement pass was issued to a man from Anantnag districton his hand than a paper. A picture of the pass, with a stamp of the concernedmagistrate, went viral on social media.
Pertinently, in partial modification of the April 3 order, divisional commissioner Kashmir announced that emergency vehicles including ambulances, tourist buses and essential services will be allowed to ply on the national highway during the restriction period. Later, lawyers and advocates were also exempted from the travel restrictions.
Irfan Amin Malik