Divisional Commissioner (Div Com) Kashmir, Anshul Garg & IGP Traffic Kashmir Division, M Suleman Choudhary today held a joint press briefing to inform about the status of streamlined traffic movement on National Highway & Mughal Road, transportation of fresh fruits from valley, restoration work on NH and availability of essential supplies in the Valley.
Addressing media, Div Com informed that during the past 10 days, under the strict Standard Operating Procedures (SoP) directed by the Chief Secretary, in collaboration with the district administrations, Traffic Police, National Highway Team, BRO, and other relevant agencies, over 137,000 Metric Tons of fresh fruit has been successfully dispatched from the valley via the National Highway, Mughal Road, and Parcel Train Service.
Everyday around 1500-2000 vehicles including fruit trucks & empty tankers accumulating in Valley are being systematically despatched towards Jammu on alternate days via NH & Mughal Road, he informed.
“The pattern of traffic is streamlined & monitored by the Traffic Police personnel so that if traffic on NH is plying towards Jammu today the traffic will be plying on Mughal Road towards Valley & tomorrow the traffic will move towards valley on NH while through Mughal Road the vehicles will move towards Jammu,” he said.
The pattern is reversed so that the traffic flow is streamlined & remains uninterrupted, Div Com stated. He added that the restoration of the National Highway is being expedited with the support of local administration and agencies & the IGP Traffic is closely monitoring the traffic movement in coordination with NHAI & local administration which has resulted in fast movement of vehicles.
He informed that as of now movement of trucks has significantly increased from previous 1500-2000 vehicles per day to 4000-4500 vehicles per day now. He added that 2000 fruit laden trucks have left from Qazigund towards Jammu, and all the fruit laden trucks from the valley shall be despatched towards Jammu by late evening.
Yesterday, around 1800-1900 trucks have reached Jammu via Mughal Road so that the dispatching of fresh fruit is given top priority and growers may not face any inconvenience, Garg said. “Recently the Parcel train service was inaugurated by HLG of J&K so the fruit is directly taken from Srinagar to Adarsh Nagar Delhi,” Div Com said and added that 800 to 1000 tons of fresh fruit are being transported daily through Parcel Train Services to Delhi.
He said that the demand for train loading operations from Baramulla and Anantnag is being processed further to help the farmers. In response to rumors of shortages of essential supplies, Div Com said that the stock of essential supplies, including petrol, diesel, LPG, and other crucial items is adequately available for at least one week.
There is no need for panic buying, he said. He added that the FCS&CA department continues to ensure availability of fuel at pumps and its fair distribution besides replenishing stocks regularly. He appealed to people not to pay heed to rumors in this regard.
He also added that divisional administration, district administrations and FCS&CA are closely working to ensure availability of food stock in the Valley. Citing improvement in weather, he stated that the buffer stock will be augmented on a day to day basis.
He said that the Chief Secretary is personally reviewing the situation daily to streamline the one-way traffic system and issuing regular directions to agencies to work with close coordination. He appreciated people for the cooperation amid the recent circumstances which helped administration to address the challenges properly.
While speaking on the occasion, IGP said that around 8,000 to 10,000 trucks carrying essential goods for the Valley that were previously stranded have been cleared, facilitating smoother movement of essential goods.