Jammu, February 9
After remaining stranded in Jammu for seven days following the closure of Jammu Srinagar National Highway, the airlift service provided by the Air Force came as a sigh of relief for the passengers.
Responding to the request made by state government to provide airlift facility to the Srinagar-bound stranded passengers who got struck in Jammu after the closure of Jammu Srinagar National Highway following heavy snowfall in the region; Indian air-force deployed three of its aircraft to lift the stranded passengers.
According to Jammu-based PRO of the ministry of defence Lt-Col S.D. Goswami, two IL 76 aircrafts with a capacity of 250 passengers and one AN32 with a seating capacity of 50 passengers were deployed to transport the stranded passengers from both sides of the state.
“A total of 12 sorties were taken by all the aircrafts in which 505 stranded passengers were shifted from Jammu to Srinagar and around 763 passengers were brought from Srinagar to Jammu. Thus today we transported around 1,268 civilian passengers from both sides of state,” said Lt-Col S.D. Goswami.
The service provided by the Air Force has come as a sigh of relief for the stranded passengers who had no means to return back to their home.
“For the past seven days, after the highway was closed I along with my wife and a three- year-old daughter were on the mercy of God as we had no option but to spend the nights under the open sky,” said Ghulam Nabi Najjar, one of the stranded passengers, who bordered the special plane for Srinagar.
Adding he said, “This special air service by the Air Force has come as a blessing for all the stranded passengers.”
Hundreds of Srinagar-bound stranded passengers had to face various hardships in Jammu after the closure of Jammu Srinagar National Highway. Despite government’s warning, the hotel owners had increased the rents and hundreds of stranded passengers had to spend chilly nights under the open sky.
“The hotel operators took an undue advantage of our miseries as they increased the rents manifolds, even the eateries charged us hefty,” said Prevaz Ahmed while seated inside an aircraft.
Meanwhile, at the time of filing this report aircraft sorties to transport the stranded passengers to Srinagar were still going on. “If the government demands and the highway remain blocked, there is possibility that the service might continue for another day,” said the PRO.
