By Shayib Bhat
Srinagar
When central government abrogated article 370, in August last year, they promised greater thrust on the development of Jammu and Kashmir and said that the basic requirement for such an act was to integrate Kashmir with rest of the country.
“When they cannot even keep the Srinagar-Jammu highway open in the March 2020, what integration and what development they are talking about. Such disruptions in the highway were witnessed in 1947, and currently also people have to bear the brunt even the year 2020”, said Khursheed Ahmad Bhat, resident of Srinagar.
Recently in the winter months, hundreds of Kashmiri were stranded for days together on Srinagar-Jammu highway with authorities only promising that such disruptions will not recur.
Currently Srinagar- Jammu highway the only surface link between Kashmir and rest of the world is not traffic worthy for the past three days. The traffic disruption on the highway has its impact on the markets of Kashmir and also it contributes to the price rise of essential commodities.
NHAI of India has been claiming that very soon all the bottlenecks for the road widening and for making the Srinagar-Jammu highway landslide proof but such claims are not the realities on the ground. People in Kashmir have a perception that such disruptions in the highway are basically because of the fact that people of Kashmir have been left to fend for themselves and the central government does not care even if this lifeline of Kashmiris remain closed for weeks together.
On Saturday today, traffic authorities in Srinagar said that not traffic would be allowed on the highway and it has multiplied the plight and problems of common people who are stranded both in Srinagar and Jammu. There is no intervention of the authorities as dozens of people who are stranded have no means to stay of their own while the highway remains closed.
It is place to mention that authorities suspended the traffic on Thursday due to the landslides at many places because of the rains and snowfall.
It is a decades old method of the authorities to take days together for the clearance of the highway and despite having now all the modern machinery available with NHAI and Beacon, the frequent disruptions in the traffic speak about lack of interest and lack of seriousness on the part of authorities to clear it.