Srinagar: On state government request, the army has deployed a transport plane to help stranded passengers reach their destinations. The aircraft will shuttle between Srinagar and Udhampur, official sources said.
“The plane has landed and boarding has started,” an official from the Srinagar airport said. “It will fly to Udhampur and it is slated to five sorties today.”
The aircraft can fly 275 passengers in one sortie, he said.
The Srinagar Jammu highway is closed now for a week after a massive hillock blocked the road between Battery Cheshma and Monkey Mode in Ramban. People who are stranded on either side near the blockage are taking a dangerous path to cross the mess – some taking the Chenab banks and others going up above the mountain and using a dangerously weak culvert.
The continued blockage of the highway has created massive sufferings for the people, especially in Kashmir valley. Though the stocks are termed to be satisfactory, right now, the continued depletion could create a mess if BRO fails to repair and restore the road.
There are thousands of passengers stranded in Jammu. The rush is massive because the people after spending winter in the plains were returning home. It includes a large number of students who were on way home to attend their schools after spending winters outside.
It was not immediately known about the mechanism that guides the concessional airlift between Srinagar and Udhampur. Efforts to get the details about who will drive Kashmir bound passengers to Udhampur or will they have to come on their own, failed.
“Yesterday, I got a message on whatsapp that people stranded in Srinagar should reach TRC Srinagar wherefrom they will be taken to Srinagar airport,” a Kashmiri passenger stranded in Jammu said. “But I do not know what happens to those stranded in Jammu.”
