NEWS

Rediff.com » News

Train services resume in Kashmir
By Mukhtar Ahmad
December 23, 2010 21:30 IST

Train services in Kashmir resumed on Thursday after remaining suspended for over five months in the wake of the deadly summer unrest that had hit the Valley.
 
Train service was partially restored between south Kashmir's Qazigund town and central Kashmir's Budgam town today, said a senior official.
 
He said that the train service will continue to remain suspended on the Budgam-Baramulla stretch as the damaged rail infrastructure will take time to be restored fully.
 
Mobs had attacked and damaged railway tracks during the tumultuous summer in the Valley, during which 112 people were killed and hundreds of others

injured.
 
The train service remained suspended due to the tense atmosphere and non-availability of railway staffers. Violence erupted across the valley in June this year, in the wake of the death of a 17-year old schoolboy, who was killed by a teargas shell.
 
"We are trying our best to undertake repairs of the damaged rail property to restore the service fully from south to north," said a senior railway official.
 
Hundreds of locals use the rail service to travel between north Kashmir's Baramulla to south Kashmir's Qazigund town.
 
The service has greatly benefited government employees and students after its launch in 2008.

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar
© 2024 Rediff.com