Govt Nod For Mughal Road
Srinagar- The residents of Kashmir have expressed their happiness over the government's go ahead for the repair of the old Mughal Road that once linked Poonch district of Jammu with the Kashmir Valley. The government has decided to resume work on the aforesaid alternative road project that will link the Kashmir Valley with Jammu -the state's winter capital. The road is called as Mughal road as it was the route toed by the Mughal's to visit India during the 17th and the 18th century. Asarai (resting place) at Shadimarag is still witness to the grandeur of Mughal carvans passing 'through this road.
By now, the lone. 300-kilometre national highway was the only link between Jammu and Srinagar, which often gets blocked due to frequent snowfall and landslides.
More than 350 people died this year when the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, the main lifeline, was cut off from the rest of the country due to the worst snowfalls in several decades.
The government has now given go ahead to the Mughal Road, which once completed will link Poonch district of Jammu with the Kashmir Valley.
"This road should be constructed. It will greatly help us. It takes us two-three days for us to reach Srinagar. We can reach Srinagar the same day once this road is completed. I am very thankful to the government," said Abdul Rashid at Thanamandi. Mukhtar Ahmed, another local, said. "Once the road is completed, business activity will also pick up. Roadside hotels will come up as more passengers will come here. Moreover, it will take much less time to reach Kashmir Valley."
Work on the road was stopped due to security concerns, as the army feared that the road may enhance the mobility of the militants in the militancy infested Poonch district.
The 89-kilonietre stretch was first taken up for execution in 1979 when there was no sign of militancy in the state. The construction of the road was simultaneously started from two sides- Shopian on the Kashmir side and Bafliaz on the Poonch side. However, the construction was not completed.
Five hundred years ago, Mughal emperor Akbar's legions marched down this road to defeat King Yousuf Shah Chak and integrate Kashmir with the rest of his empire. Now the state is looking again to the 84-km-long Mughal Road for much the same reasons.
The urgency of the Mughal road comes because of the unpredictability of the Jammu-Srinagar highway.
"Unpredictability" is actually a mild term for the vulnerability of the Jammu-Srinagar highway. Scanty rain or heavy snowfall, the sole roadlink between Kashmir and the rest of the country is known to collapse at the least provocation But the death of more than 200 villager in settlement barely two hours away from the snowed-up highway has perhaps driven home the urgency of the situation like little else could have.
Running past fields of maize, pine groves, lush meadows and gushing streams. 84 km of the Mughal Road will reconnect Shopian in Kashmir to Bufliaz in the Poonch district of Jammu, cutting travel time considerably. At present the road, which cuts through the Pir Panjal mountain range, is motorable upto Sarbal. 20 km from the apple-rich belt of Shopian. While the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway is 300 km long, the Mughal Road between Jammu and Srinagar stretches 190 km.
The Mughal Road apart from shortening the distance of journey between Jammu & Srinagar would also create an environment, which would help in, greater Inter Regional Culture and Economic exchanges. The geographical isolation of the specific areas, which discouraged people to people contacts, will end and greater economic activity between the regions would follow