No more Udhampur-Srinagar national highway curbs on Wednesdays after May 13

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday said it would lift restrictions on civilian traffic between Udhampur to Srinagar on National Highway (NH)-44 on Wednesdays from next week.

“The restriction on civilian movement between Srinagar and Udhampur on NH-44 will be lifted on Wednesdays with effect from May 13. The prohibition on civilian traffic in this stretch would now be only on Sunday,” a government spokesman said in a statement.

“The government is alive to the needs of citizens and has once again reviewed the requirement of security forces. Following the completion of elections in Pulwama and Shopian districts and as the requirement of security forces is now reducing, the government has decided to further relax the restrictions,” he said.

The restriction on civilian movement between Srinagar and Baramulla on NH-44 was reduced only to Sunday after April 20 and completely lifted on May 1.

The movement of civilian traffic on the highway from Baramulla to Udhampur was restricted for two days a week — Wednesday and Sunday – on April 7 to allow safe passage to 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’.

On February 14, a suicide bomber had rammed his car into a security convoy in Pulwama district on the highway killing 40 CRPF personnel and bringing India and Pakistan to the brink of war. The general elections across India, including Jammu and Kashmir, were announced in March.

The Lok Sabha elections in the state concluded on May 6.

The state is under president’s rule since December 20 and is being administered by governor Satya Pal Malik.

First Published: May 08, 2019 14:07 IST