Supplies reach Kashmir as Jammu-Srinagar highway opens

Srinagar, April 8

One-way traffic was allowed from Srinagar to Jammu on the strategic Srinagar-Jammu National Highway on Wednesday. Earlier, over 1,000 trucks carrying supplies reached here overnight from Jammu.

"More than 1,000 trucks carrying essential supplies to the valley reached here safely yesterday by the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway," a senior traffic department official told IANS here.

The official said the highway was opened for one-way traffic from Jammu to Srinagar on Tuesday, and now it is being opened for one-way traffic from Srinagar to Jammu on Wednesday.

"No vehicle will be allowed to travel in the opposite direction," the official added.

A five-day long closure of the highway, which was restored on Monday, caused a crisis situation as vegetables, mutton and poultry products vanished from the valley's markets.

Although authorities say adequate stocks of essential supplies are maintained in the valley to ward off any crisis, hoarding and profiteering by unscrupulous traders has traditionally been the heartburn of the locals during such periods.

The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway No.1A is the lifeline of supplies for the landlocked valley as it is the only surface connection between Kashmir and the rest of the country through which essentials goods of life are routed.

IANS