The road linking Srinagar with Muzzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which was severely damaged in the October 8 killer quake, was reopened on Thursday to light vehicles on the Indian side, a top army official said.
The gigantic task of opening the 17.5 km stretch between Uri and Kaman Post, the last post this side of Line of Control was completed a month before schedule, said Lieutenant General Deepak Kapoor, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command.
The work was completed within a month as the clearing operation was simultaneously undertaken from both the ends of the road. The process was speeded up as bull-dozers were dismantled and air-lifted for the first time from Uri on one side and Urusa on the other, he said.
However, the road now was only open to light vehicles and would be fully fit for heavy vehicles within three weeks. The opening of the road, popular now as the 'peace road', would not only facilitate trans-LoC movement but also connect all the villages en-route.
It would also facilitate movement of relief material for the relief point being established next to the Kaman Post, which has been identified as one of the five places along the LoC that would be opened from November 7 to facilitate movement of divided families and relief material across both parts of Kashmir.