Jammu, February 21
Though travelling on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, which is likely to be thrown open for bus services from April 7, will be allowed on the basis of local permits to be issued by the authorities designated by the government, the passport office, the police and the local intelligence agencies will continue to have their role in clearing applicants for permits.

According to official sources, for enabling the local authorities designated by the government to issue permits to people wishing to visit occupied Kashmir via the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route the passport offices in Jammu and Srinagar will issue the requisite application forms.

After receiving filled forms from the applicants the local authorities will have to seek verification and clearance reports from the police and the local intelligence agency, as is the practice for securing passports.

The sources said that the authorities designated by the government for issuing permits “cannot issue such permits unless each application is enclosed with a verification report from the police and the CID.”

The sources said that after replacing the passport and visa system by the permit system not many structures had to be constructed at the entry point on the Uri border.

They said that, “We require two buildings, one for the police and security agencies, including the CID and the other for those officials who would be posted for the verification of each permit before the passengers were allowed to cross the LoC.”

The state government has decided to approach the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for taking adequate measures for upgrading the 70 km long Srinagar-Uri road, which lay buried under snow at present. Though several bridges on the road had been repaired and widened by the BRO and the state agencies last year, major upgrading was still required.

The state government has also decided to allow buses only of the State Road Transport Corporation to ply on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road. And for this the corporation has already purchased four luxury coaches.

Mr Raman Bhalla, Minister of state for Transport, said that in case there was a need the corporation would purchase more buses.

A senior police officer said that Army personnel too would be associated with the exercise of screening passengers from across the LoC and those from Jammu and Kashmir at the Uri check post He said that for facilitating the process of securing permits the government was considering the option of giving powers to Deputy commissioners in each district.

He said that those living in far-flung areas in Poonch, Rajouri, Doda, Baramula, Kupwara and other tehsils and villages would be inconvenienced if they were asked to collect the requisite application forms from the passport offices in Jammu or Srinagar and if the two Divisional Commissioners alone were to be made the designated authorities for issuing permits.