Srinagar-Leh highway opens for light vehicles

Mughal Road likely to open by May 15

Sonamarg/Rajouri, May 11: The 434 Km long strategic Srinagar-Leh highway was thrown open for traffic on Sunday while the historic Mughal road connecting Kashmir with Rajouri district in Jammu is likely to be opened by May 15.
Officials said that only light motor vehicles (LMV) will be allowed to ply on Srinagar-Leh road for a week till the highway gets fully operational for heavy vehicles.
Hundreds of vehicles waiting for opening of the road were allowed to proceed from Sonamarg towards Leh and Kargil this morning.
SHO Sonamarg, Irfan Ahmed said the traffic will be allowed to ply between 5am to 7pm on the highway. “BRO is on the job and it will take more than a week to make the road fully functional for heavy vehicles,” Irfan said.
Traffic police said if the weather conditions are favorable vehicles would move from Kargil to Srinagar on Monday.
Mughal Road likely to open by May 15
The historic Mughal Road, connecting twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri with Kashmir, is likely to be opened for traffic by May 15, with snow-clearance on the road expected to be completed shortly.
Official sources told Greater Kashmir that snow clearance work on Poonch side is in its final stage and out of 45 KMs stretch from Bafliaz to Peer Ki Gali, snow has been cleared on about 41 KMs.
They said the government has set the deadline of May 15 for opening of the road.
However, officials said the condition of the road is not good enough for allowing 2-way traffic due to heavy rains, snowfall and landslides.
Executive Engineer Mughal Road Project, MH Mirza confirmed that clearance work on a small portion of the road from Poonch-Rajouri side is left “and the road will be hopefully opened by 15 May”.
However, he said that departmental experts have decided to allow only one-way traffic initially “as the road stretch from 29 KM point from Bafliaz to Peer Ki Gali is prone to shooting stones and sliding”.