No more curbs on national highway on Wednesdays

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Friday said restrictions on civilian traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway will be restricted  only on Sundays.

The restriction on civilian movement between Srinagar and Jammu will be lifted on Wednesdays. The prohibition on civilian traffic in this stretch would now be only on Sunday,” a government spokesman said in a statement.

An order issued by the state Home Department said: “In consequence of the reviews undertaken on a real time basis with regard to the regulation of civilian vehicular movement, it is hereby ordered that henceforth the restriction on civilian traffic between Srinagar and Udhampur on national highway-44 would be for only one day in a week — Sunday.”

The restrictions imposed on the highway was  to allow safe passage of  the convoy of the security forces required for anti-militancy operations following the Pulwama terror attack on February 14 and conducting general elections peacefully.

The decision had created furore in the Kashmir valley with many criticising the order as ‘colonial’.

Political parties, traders, professionals and civil society members had vehemently opposed the imposition of restrictions on the highway as they said it adversely impacted business and professional activities in the Kashmir Valley.