Food prices rise in Valley as highway remains shut

srinagar — The arterial SrinagarJammu National Highway, the only all-weather road link between Kashmir and rest of the country, remained closed for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday, choking supply of essentials to the Valley where prices of commodities have more than doubled in the past week.

“The Srinagar-Jammu road continues to remain closed for vehicular traffic in view of landslides at many places along the 294-km road. The road is slippery in certain snowbound areas,” an official of the traffic control department said.

He said inclement weather was hampering efforts to restore traffic on the arterial highway.

The official said as soon as the road is traffic-worthy, the stranded vehicles along the highway will be cleared for movement to their destination.

However, the flight operation at Srinagar airport, which resumed on Friday after three days of suspension, was going on as per schedule, Airport Authority of India officials said.

The closure of the national highway has resulted in depleting stocks of the essential commodities the valley and steep hike in prices of essential food grains.

The price of lettuce, locally known as haakh, has gone up by 150 per cent from Rs20 per kg before snowfall last week to Rs50 per kg on Saturday.

The prices of other vegetables have also seen a sharp increase of 80 to 100 per cent in the past week.

Manay distributors of cooking LPG claim that they have run out of stocks due to the closure of the highway as fresh supplies have not arrived from Jammu.

Officials of the Divisional Administration could not be reached for a comment. — PTI