Mehbooba, Dr Abdullah, Omar mourn victims of Ramban accident

Demanding construction of a tunnel to make historic 86-km-long Mughal road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region, Mufti said the Srinagar-Jammu national highway has become a death trap. The road is currently closed since December last year due to accumulation of snow.

Taking micro-blogging site twitter president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba said “ Deepest condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in an accident at Ramban today. The National Highway has become a death trap , need to construct Mughal road tunnel so as to take pressure off this road” .

Dr Abdullah and Omar expressed deep sorrow and anguish over the loss of lives in a tragic road accident on Chandrakoot-Rajgrah road in Ramban.

“I am deeply saddened by the loss of lives in road accident, Dr Abdullah said adding” My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families,” adding, “This year there has been a steep increase in the number of road accidents on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. What is worrying here is the fact that there has been no initiative by the incumbent governor administration to curb the occurrence of such fatal accidents.”

“The highway has unfortunately turned into the highway of death. India being a signatory to Brasilia declaration is committed to halving road accident death by 2020. The process, however, requires strict scientific action from administration, which unfortunately has shut its eyes and ears to the mounting road accidents. The present governor administration is rather overwhelmed by prejudices and over indulgence in politicking,” he said.

Omar Abdullah, while expressing grief over the deadly accident said, “I pray for peace to departed souls. Unfortunately for the past few years there has been no initiative towards ensuring safety and security of the commuters on Jammu –Srinagar highway. We have been repeatedly asking the incumbent governor administration to find scientific remedy for curbing such accidents. However, our repeated pleas have fell on deaf ears,” adding, “I urge the administration to give best of the medical treatment to the injured and adequate compensation to the next of kith and kin of those who died in the fatal accident.”