Kashmir remains cut-off for the 5th day

Srinagar, Feb 25 (UNI) The Kashmir valley remained cut-off from the rest of the country for the fifth consecutive day today due to closure of the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway.

The closure of the highway has exposed the claim about the local production of milk, meat, eggs, vegetables and other essential commodities in the valley.

Keeping in view the intensity of the damage, authorities have already announced the highway, will remain closed till February 26 to allow the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to undertake the repair work at Penthal where 30 meters of road and a culvert were washed away on February 21 due to landslides, triggered by rains.

The BRO, responsible for the maintenance of the only road link between the Kashmir valley and rest of the country, have pressed into service hundreds of labourers and sophisticated machines to make the road traffic worthy.

Official sources said it will take another week to make the highway functional again.

Thousands of stranded passengers at different places on the highway, including at Jammu, protested against the government for not making any arrangement for them.

They alleged a majority of passengers have now sold their watches and other valuables to feed themselves because of shortage of money.

They said that despite tall claims by the authorities and directions by the Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, no relief was provided to them.

A passenger Mohammad Ayub stranded alongwith his wife and two small children at Jammu for the past five days, told UNI over phone a few Road Transport Corporation vehicles left Jammu this morning for Penthal.

He said it was unfortunate instead of making any arrangement for the stranded passengers the authorities were forcing them to go to Penthal and cover the five km difficult terrain on foot to reach Ramsu. How can the small children and women cover this distance , he asked and appealed to the government to airlift them to Srinagar.

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