No blanket ban on highway, only regulations: Admn

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 10

Allaying the concerns rising among people of the Valley, the authorities on Wednesday asserted that there was no blanket ban on the movement of civilian traffic but only its regulation on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, in view of the Amarnath yatra.

This was clarified by Baseer Ahmad Khan, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, and Swayam Prakash Pani, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir Zone, at a press conference here.

“An impression has been created that there is a complete ban on the movement of civilian traffic on the highway….” Khan remarked, saying that only steps for regulating the heavy traffic movement on the highway were in place. These steps were taken in view of many concerns, including heavy movement of Amarnath yatra vehicles during the initial days of the annual pilgrimage, bad road condition from Banihal onwards and security issues.

The IGP said the regulations were mainly due to the bad condition of the highway across Jawahar Tunnel and the overall security concerns. The road condition across Jawahar Tunnel, up to Nashri, had no capacity to accommodate the heavy volume of traffic, which led to devising of the entire mechanism. “There is no restriction on movement of locals…. Time slots are given and it takes time to follow the regulations,” Pani said.

Khansaid slots were kept for movement of different types of vehicles — Amarnath pilgrims, security forces convoys, civilians and heavy vehicles carrying goods.