Mughal Road functional
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Pir Ki Gali (Poonch), December 5
The Historic Mughal road, the shortest alternate National Highway between Jammu and Kashmir provinces, has been officially made operational by the road construction authorities.

The 84 km-long road which starts from Bufliaz to Shopian in Kashmir opened for vehicular traffic - though briefly - here on Thursday when some students and civilians who came in vehicles crossed through here and reached Shopian in Kashmir.

An official of the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), which is the main contractor for the project, told The Tribune that though the vehicles used to ply on this road from Bufliaz side to Pir Ki Gali during the last few months, the vehicles would not move beyond this point because of the 100 m stretch of hard rock near Lal Ghulam area of Aliabad in Shopian was to be excavated.

He said the road was to open by the mid-November, but the excavation of the stretch couldn't be carried out due to heavy snowfall that occurred in this area last month.

“For years we were waiting for this moment and finally it came. Our destiny will change as the road will open new avenues for the people in our districts, who remain poor and backward,” Riyaz Malik of Chandimarh along the Mughal road said.

Even as the vehicles crossed through the Pir Ki Gali, nomads who traditionally use this road for taking their cattle to the valley from these districts also felt happy.