Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 20: Governor N N Vohra has addressed Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of road Transport and Highways and requested him to declare the Mughal road as a National Highway and approve construction of a 8 km Chattapani-Zaznar tunnel to make this an all weather link.
In the letter, the Governor has conveyed that this road has several avalanche-prone locations near Pir-Ki-Gali and that a considerable portion of it remained snow bound during the winter, rendering it inoperative from late November to end April.
The Governor has noted that the Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has already taken an excellent initiative and declared Jammu-Akhnoor-Poonch (NH-144A), and Srinagar-Shopian-Qazigund (NH-444) roads as New National Highways.
The declaration of Mughal road as a National Highway and construction of the said tunnel would provide a reliable all-weather alternative route to link Jammu with Srinagar via the Rajouri-Shopian axis.
It is worth mentioning that the Government of India has assisted the State under Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Plan (PMRP) in constructing the 84.10 km long Mughal Road.
This road has provided connectivity across the Pir Panchal range connecting Shopian (in Kashmir Division) with Bafliaz (in Jammu division). From the Poonch side the construction of this road has resulted in reducing the distance to Srinagar by over 300 kms and also contributed to easing the heavy traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway (NH-44).
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