In what reflects the anger of people and amid growing outrage over halting of apple trucks on Srinagar- Jammu highway, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said that the Union Government should handover the highway to the J & K government if they cannot maintain it.
"The central government should hand over control of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway to the elected government if it is unable to reopen or restore the strategic road, as prolonged closure has increased the sufferings of people", the Chief Minister while speaking to media.
“This highway falls under the jurisdiction of the Government of India. If they cannot maintain it, they should hand it over to us. I will deploy a team of engineers who are currently available here,” Omar said.Omar said they have failed to make the road fully functional. “Enough is enough. We have been patient because they kept assuring us daily that (restoration) work would be done, but it didn’t happen,” he said.He said that he will take up the matter of restoration of the highway with Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.
"Truck drivers are quite worried as the highway is closed. And trader groups are suffering," Omar told reporters in Srinagar. "If the highway had been under me, then I would have opened it by now. This highway is under the Government of India. If they cannot manage it, then hand it over to us.”
The 250-kilometre highway, the Valley's strategic road link with the rest of the country, has faced repeated closures due to landslides and poor maintenance, crippling the movement of fruit consignments and essential supplies. Omar said the situation has sparked protests and calls for his resignation from some trade bodies in the region. The highway has been shut since last month, leading to the stranding of hundreds of trucks laden with goods and essential supplies. This has resulted in scarcity of petrol supply and other essential supplies.
Abdullah said his government had exercised patience but warned that the situation could no longer continue. "Here in this room engineers are sitting. I will send one of their teams and deploy them there. For us, now enough has happened. Because daily they used to say to us, "Today it will happen, today it will happen, today it will happen. But it is not happening,” Omar said. He said that running just one train is not enough.
“I would request the Railway Minister that one train is not sufficient. We are thankful to you for starting train service. It should be operated on a regular basis so that fruit growers have the option to transport apples either by train or by road,” he said.
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