Open Skardu route, End Kargil isolation: Mehbooba

Scoop News April 11, 2012

Srinagar, April 11 (Scoop News) –Calling for bold and visible measures to unshackle Kargil district from physical and economic constraints, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has called for fast tracking of the construction of tunnel across Zojilla.

During an interaction with the delegation of respected citizens of Kargil, she urged the govt of India that the work on proposed tunnel at Zojilla be started from Kargil side as well so that the facility is made available in minimum possible time.

Under the leadership of Sheikh Mohd Ishaq Waaizi, a religious scholar from Barsoo and Najjaf Ali, a retired police officer from Kaksar, a team had called on the PDP president in Srinagar and later expressed willingness to join the PDP and subscribed to its membership and agenda.

Those who joined the PDP include Haji Ali Ghulam Hangis Chiktan, Nisar Ahmed Chiktan, Ali Mohammed Budgam, Gh Nabi Chokiyal Drass, Mohd Shabir Suru Khawas, Gh Hyder Panikhar and Mohd Hussain Kaksar.

Mehbooba said Kargil was one of those areas which had tremendous potential for growth but had remained backward as a result of the political apathy of those who had been elected on their vote. The only time the district voted for the party other than the NC in many decades was in 2002. It was then that the hill development council was created and empowered for carrying on the developmental tasks.

She said it was unfortunate that the present govt has reversed the process of empowerment of this backward district with the result the development process has come to a standstill.

She said construction of tunnel was pursued by the PDP as part of its connectivity plan for better inter-regional transport between the three regions of Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu. She said it was necessary that the construction of tunnel that has received approval is taken up from the both ends.

Mehbooba said in order to let the full potential of the region to be exploited it was also necessary that Kargil-Skardu road is thrown open. She said the governments of India and Pakistan had in principal agreed to do so. Once implemented this would revive not only the cultural contacts of Kargil with Gilgit and other northern areas but would also open up a whole world of trading opportunities to entire state.

Kargil, Mehbooba recalled, had been a trading hub between South Asia, Central Asia and China till 1948 and it was the PDP’s vision to reopen those opportunities by activating these traditional routes. Opening up of Kargil-Skardu road, she said, would be part of the process started with the opening of Srinagar-Muzaffarabd and Poonch-Rawalakote roads in Kashmir and Jammu regions.

“The biggest CBM of the cross-LoC initiated by India and Pakistan with the PDP pushing hard for it will remain incomplete without opening up of Kargil-Skardu road,” she said. The delegation apprised Mehbooba about problems being faced in Kargil and urged her to take them up for redressal. The delegation representatives said Kargil needed a flyover to reduce traffic congestion and also demanded the beautification of the banks of river Suroo. They urged the upcoming campus of the university should be located centrally, close to the district headquarters so that it is easily accessible to students from the entire region.

Referring to the neglect that the Kargil district had suffered at the hands of the present dispensation, the delegation pointed out that a small 24 ft bridge Goma – Kargil that had been washed away in 2010 was still awaiting reconstruction. This, they said, only reflected the general attitude of apathy the administration has adopted towards Kargil. They also pointed out that in 2010 floods most of the Hagnis had been washed away but none of the residents had received any relief till now nor had any rehabilitation effort been under taken.

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