Srinagar-Leh Highway has been reopened to vehicles traffic on Thursday in a record 68 days after closing in January this year after heavy snowfall, officials said.
A trial movement has been successfully conducted and the decision to reopen the road to civilian traffic will be made after a joint inspection by the civil authorities of the Union Territory of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.
The highway was opened to traffic at Zojila Pass, located at 11,650 feet, by Border Road Organization (BRO) Director General Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhary.
Zojila is a strategic road that provides an important link between the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh and it is key to the operational readiness of the armed forces. It used to be closed for about six months due to heavy snowfall. However, in the past few years, the BRO has reopened it in less time. This year, it was deleted in a record time of 68 days.
Speaking to the press, Lieutenant General Chaudhary said that the opening of the pass has a lot of significance both in terms of strategy as well as socio-economic.
“The people of Ladakh used to have power cuts for about 5-6 months, but BRO opened this route earlier than usual and people can go to Srinagar for their needs or medical emergency or even trade and trade,” he said.
He said reopening the pass would provide an economic boost to the region.
“Tourism also opened up thanks to the opening of this route and the people of Kargil, Drass and Leh benefited greatly from the opening of this route,” he said.
He said the central government also benefits greatly from reopening.
“In order to keep our forces deployed in Ladakh, all supplies must be sent by air, approx. $7 crore is spent daily. We made a calculation that we can save $400-450 crore, otherwise have to spend on this maintenance, by reopening the road sooner,” he said.
BRO DG said the highway was open until January 6 of this year, after which it was closed due to heavy snowfall.
“This road is open until January 6. In February, we decided to start clearing work on it, but keeping the safety of workers in mind. So we proceeded. systematically operating and clearing snow. Today, traffic has started to pile up on this road. It has now reopened in record time. This is a huge achievement,” he said. .
Previously, it was thought to reopen the route in May. But in recent years, the road has been reopened earlier than that. “Next year we will try to reopen earlier than this,” he added.
Lieutenant General Chaudhary said with the reopening of the Zojilla Pass, “we can easily move the machines, tanks, guns, etc if and whenever we need… to get it to the forces. deployed in Ladakh”.
“This is the only route connecting Ladakh with the rest of the country. The Leh-Manali route has not been opened yet,” he said.
He added that the pass will be reopened to civilian traffic in the next few days after assessing road conditions and safety issues.
Bakir Ali, a civilian, said people living on both sides of the pass were happy when the road reopened.
“This road was opened earlier than previous years. As the holy month of Ramzan is about to begin, it is great that this route has been opened and will allow people to take care of their daily needs. I can bring in fresh fruit, vegetables, etc,” Ali said.
The BRO has broken its own record when it comes to the reopening of the pass. The road has been open for 110 days in 2021, for 78 days in 2022 and for just 68 days this year.
This story was published from the wire dealer’s feed without text modification. Only the title has been changed.
