Srinagar, Apr 26
Only vehicles, carrying Darbar Move officials, were on Sunday allowed to move on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country.
Meanwhile, essential service vehicles -- carrying vegetables, fruits and other commodities -- were plying normally on 434-km-long Srinagar-Leh national highway, the only road connecting the Union Territory of Ladakh with rest of the country.
''State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) buses, ferrying Darbar Move officials, were on Sunday allowed to move on the 270-km-long highway from Jammu to Srinagar,'' a traffic police official told UNI.
He said once these vehicles are cleared, essential service vehicles will be allowed to move from Srinagar to Jammu on the highway.
Since last month, only essential commodity vehicles have been allowed on the highway. However, SRTC vehicles have been ferrying stranded passengers between Srinagar and Jammu occasionally on the highway. The Darbar Move office will partially reopen in Srinagar on May 4 amid COVID-19 outbreak.
The Leh highway reopened on April 11 after remaining closed for the past about five months due to accumulation of snow and slippery road conditions. However, only vehicles carrying essentials, including petrol, diesel and LPG cylinders, were allowed to ply on the highway.
He said no passenger vehicles will be allowed on the highway, where health checkup for truckers and their helpers -- while going to Ladakh and the way back -- has been made mandatory to curtail spread of Coronavirus. ''Only a driver and a helper would be allowed with a truck, carrying essential commodities to the Union Territory of Ladakh,'' he added.
''Due to the sub-zero temperature, trucks are being allowed to move to Leh UT, from 1000 hrs onwards,'' he said, adding each truck will carry only 11 tonnes of load on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway, because of hilly, slippery terrain and weather vagaries
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