Srinagar-Leh highway opens for light vehicles

Srinagar, April 25 (IANS) The strategic Srinagar-Leh highway was opened for traffic Wednesday after a nearly five-month winter break, said a senior army officer.

'For the next one week, only light vehicles will be allowed on the highway,' Brigadier T.P.S. Rawat, chief engineer of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), told IANS.

The highway was opened to traffic after the BRO, which maintains the strategic road links and highways in the state, cleared away the heavy snow accumulated on the road, to make it traffic worthy.

'Despite heavy snowfall this winter, the road has been opened ahead of schedule. We had kept the road open up to December 7 last year and have opened it today after a gap of nearly five months,' Rawat said.

The 437-km road was opened after Lt. Gen. S.A. Hasnain, General Officer Commanding the army's Srinagar-based 15th corps, flagged off a convoy across the Zojila Pass in the presence of Lt. Gen. S. Ravishankar, director general of BRO.

All the essential supplies to the Ladakh region and those for the army units posted in the border areas are routed through this road.