Div Com Ladakh reviews road preparedness over Zojila

Leh, December, 03: ‘The BRO, district administrations of Kargil and Ganderbal, the Traffic Police are all set to ensure smooth flow of traffic on the Srinagar-Leh Highway passing through Zojila till the closure of the Zojilla pass’, said the Divisional Commissioner, Ladakh Saugat Biswas after a meeting chaired today for ensuring smooth traffic movement on the highway.
In the meeting, he reviewed the arrangements for ensuring the safety of the vehicles and passengers traveling on the Zojila road. The state of preparedness was also briefed by the project Beacon, project Vijayak, administration of district Ganderbal, as well as Kargil, were made.
The Deputy Commissioner Kargil, Santosh Sukhdev assured of the deployment of recovery vehicles, earthmovers, tippers, etc at strategic points on the highway. The District Police, Ganderbal, and Army Authorities from 8 Mountain Division presented the existing gaps in communication between the various agencies involved in smooth traffic flow. During the meeting, such gaps regarding the timing of road maintenance, movement of army convoys, and civilian vehicles were ironed out, ensuring better coordination for the movement of traffic. Deputy Commissioner, Kargil assured that the positioning of two recovery vans has already been done and two more will be positioned shortly to recover vehicles in distress and prevent road blockages.
Chief Engineer Beacon, Brigadier Jaggi apprised of the proactive measures taken to improve the road management compared to the previous years. He informed that five detachments have been placed from Gumri to Drass and are working in synergy with the civil administration.
The SP Kargil, Inayat Ali informed that detachments of the police have been deployed at Sonamarg as well as Gumri along with the detachment of BRO. The Divisional Commissioner further directed for close coordination with the District Administration, SSPs, Traffic Police, BRO, and Army, to move in sync with civilian traffic, according to SOP.
The Divisional Commissioner asked the SP Kargil to release a public advisory to instruct the public to travel with snow chains in their vehicles in the month of December. District Administration Ganderbal assured of providing emergency accommodation at Sonamarg for stranded people in case of an emergent road closure. He also instructed to prioritize the movement of essential commodities which are often stuck at Sonamarg, causing huge inconvenience to the public.
Concluding the meeting, the Divisional Commissioner thanked all the officials for their hard work in keeping the roads functioning despite the odds and asked them to follow suit this year as well, strictly adhere to the deadline to accomplish the mission on time.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Commissioner, Ganderbal; Deputy Commissioner, Kargil; DIG, Ladakh Police; Chief Engineer, Vijayak; Chief Engineer, Beacon ; SSP, Kargil ; SSP, Ganderbal ; SSP Traffic Rural Kashmir ; SE, Mechanical, Ladakh ; SP Traffic Ladakh, SP UTDRF, Ladakh and representative for 8 Mountain Division of Army.