Common people face inconvenience during PM's visit

Jammu, July 15 (UNI) The ''fool-proof'' security arrangements made for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit here today caused great inconvenience to the common people.

There was a curfew-like situation in the entire city during the PM's visit, and public transport remained off the road.

''I had to walk seven kms from the Railway Station to reach my home in the old city,'' said Mr Rahul Kumar, a private sector employee.

The city was virtually changed into a fortress with around 20,000 troops of army, CRPF and state police on the roads.

Mr Ram Lal, who was accompanied by wife and child, was among a dozen of locals who were stopped a few kilometers from their homes at Jagti, where Dr Singh laid the foundation stone of a ''temporary'' township for migrant Kashmiri Pandit.

''Our house is just on the other side of this hillock,'' a woman was telling the policemen on security duty, but to no avail.

All the lanes meeting the national highway (NH-1A) in the City were blocked by security forces.

The pilgrims of Shri Amarnath shirne and Mata Vaishnodevi also faced inconvenience due repeated checking in the city and outskirts.

''We were halted for more than an hour at Nagrota. And now, our train Varanasi Special, which leaves the station at 1400 hrs, has already left,'' said Mr Dinbandhu Rai of Gazipur in Uttar Pradesh, who were returning from Katra this morning.

''The routes of many local minibuses have ben diverted or curtailed due to VVIP movement,'' police sources said.

UNI