Road across LoC shut till year-end

Sources said the BRO is undertaking re-construction of the road on a war-footing after Army received instructions from the Centre to complete it at the earliest. Besides, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has taken up the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

However, a Beacon survey found that the restoration could take more time as the damage caused to the road was huge.

‘‘Besides, the coming winter can play spoilsport. The damage on the Muzaffarabad side is also heavy and it is unclear how long they (Pakistan) will take to make it traffic-worthy,’’ the officer said.

Lt Gen S S Dhillon, Commander 15 Corps, however, said the winter would not be a problem. ‘‘Uri has a different climate, there is not much snowfall there,’’ he said, adding, ‘‘But the road is badly damaged and reconstruction will take a minimum of two months. Even the bridge (Aman Setu) is damaged and it will take some time for Army engineers to reach there.’’

The 17.5 km stretch of road from Uri to Aman Setu, the peace bridge, has borne the brunt of the quake—8.5 kms from Zero Point in Uri has been cleared so far.

Restoration of the 9 km is an ‘‘extremely uphill task,’’ said Brig Dasaka. ‘‘On a stretch of 2.25 from Bhim post (14 kms from Uri), there is a continuous slide, with heights ranging from 5-20 mts. This is the most problematic area.’’

Besides, there are at least 12 more slides on the remaining stretch. ‘‘For two kms up to Red Bridge there are five landslides and breach of formation of 200 metres,’’ he said. ‘‘Ahead of the Red Bridge and after, there are huge boulders and one of the abutments have changed.’’

The earthquake has also propped up a permanent problem—an active landslide area has surfaced on a stretch ahead of Bhim Post. ‘‘The entire road was a landslide free zone but this new problem has cropped up,’’ sources said. Beacon’s problem is they can take up restoration only on one side.

‘‘But we are exploring the possibility of airlifting machinery to start work simultaneously at different stretches,’’ said Brig Dasaka. Beacon has already taken up this issue with the IAF.

The road to Muzaffarabad was thrown open to traffic—after 1947—on April 7 this year. PM Manmohan Singh had flagged off the first bus, and it was two days after its 15th run from Srinagar that the earthquake struck.

Pak okays Yasin trip

SRINAGAR: The Pakistani government has agreed to J-K Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik’s visit to Muzaffarabad for the distribution of relief material there. Malik is heading for Pakistan on Monday. ‘‘The JKLF chairman talked to the Pakistan High Commission at New Delhi on Thursday on the issue after which a visa was granted,” JKLF spokesman Ghulam Rasool Idi said.