KL Desk
Jammu
On the directions of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, two control rooms, one each at Kashmir and Jammu, have been established to monitor the situation arisen due to snowing in the Valley and some parts of Jammu division while he is personally monitoring the situation.
At Jammu, the control rooms has been set up at Engineering Institute Ganghinagar with phone number 0191-2436030 while at Kashmir it has been established at Chief Engineer, MED office at Shaltaing with phone number 0194-2311364 and both the control rooms will work round the clock.
This was disclosed by the Minister for R&B, Mechanical Engineering Department, Abdul Majeed Wani while talking to media persons.
Minister of State for Industries and Commerce, Home and R&B, Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo, Chief Engineers of R&B and MED Jammu, Superintending Engineer, Jammu-Kathua Circle PL Bushan besides other senior engineers of the departments were present on the occasion.
Wani said that the Mechanical Engineering and R&B departments had already been alerted in view of the weather forecast and was ready to tackle the situation. He said the government is trying its best to remove snow from all major roads and keep the roads clear for traffic moment, especially on major district routes.
Majeed said that concerned Chief Engineers of both Kashmir and Jammu divisions have been asked to supervise the functioning of the control rooms, while Chief Engineers of R&B and MED Jammu have been instructed to pass on consolidated situation reports on hour to hour basis.
The Minister said that concerned officers have been directed to mobilize all men and machinery and ensure that all major routes remain open for traffic. He said Valley has been divided in to three zones in which 91 heavy to medium size snow clearance machines have been pressed into service to clear the roads. He said the priority would be to keep district roads opens followed by town and interior roads.
Kichloo said that opening of Jammu-Srinagar highway will be priority of the government while all out efforts are being made to remove snow from Jammu-Srinagar highway.“We are in touch with BRO and GREF authorities to ensure early resumption of traffic on this route. He said mechanical engineering department has been asked to reach out every part of the affected areas in both the divisions to avoid any public inconvenience.
The minister said that traffic department has been instructed to keep close vigil on traffic movement on Jammu-Srinagar highway till the road is cleared fully for traffic.
