1,600 passengers airlifted, supplies to Kashmir hit
The Kashmir valley is running low on food supplies as the Jammu-Srinagar highway, the region’s only road link with the country, remained closed for the seventh day on Tuesday due to landslides brought by heavy rain and snow.
The Indian Air Force on Tuesday made sorties from Udhampur to Srinagar and back to lift the passengers stranded in Jammu from several days.
Earlier, the passengers travelled in state road transport corporation buses from Ramban to Udhampur.
Speaking to HT, divisional commissioner Kashmir Baseer Khan said till evening, over 900 passengers were airlifted from Udhampur to Srinagar, while 700 were allowed to board on the return flights from Srinagar.
Officials said as weather remained conducive, a makeshift track was made through the areas hit by landslide in Ramban and Ramsu on Tuesday to allow 200 light motor and passenger vehicles stranded on the highway to pass.
There still are some 1,500 heavy motor vehicles and truckers, carrying essentials which are still stuck on the highway.
“For the past two to three days, there has been improvement in weather. There have been heavy landslides in Ramban and Ramsu and shooting stones in Panthal. We have managed to remove the debris to a large extent and made a makeshift track for one-way traffic of light motor vehicles,” said SSP traffic (rural) Aijaz Ahmad Bhat. He added that the road was still not fit for heavy traffic.
“If weather continues to remain good, we may be able to assess the road condition for the movement of 1,000-1,500 heavy vehicles stranded on the highway tomorrow (Wednesday),” Bhat said.
He said the stranded trucks are carrying essentials like vegetables, livestock and oils to the Valley.
Highway was closed on Wednesday owing to shooting stones and landslides due to snow and incessant rain. The closure of the essential surface link has led to a decrease in the stock of essential commodities in the Valley. Residents claim that meat and chicken supplies have also dried up.
“If the highway continues to remain closed for a few more days, we will have shortage of essentials. The stocks have dwindled. We are keeping a track of the situation, if need arises we may airlift the essential commodities,” said divisional commissioner Baseer Khan.
Work is on to build an allweather road to keep the Valley connected to rest of the country through the year but the work is behind schedule.