{"id":90941,"date":"2025-09-12T00:33:40","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/?p=90941"},"modified":"2025-09-12T00:33:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:03:40","slug":"highway-reopens-for-hmvs-on-kashmir-side-after-16-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/12\/highway-reopens-for-hmvs-on-kashmir-side-after-16-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Highway reopens for HMVs on Kashmir side after 16 days"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>1200 trucks crossed so far, 40% carrying perishable fruit: Traffic officials<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Qazigund (Levdora), Sept 11 (KNO): After remaining closed for nearly 16 days, the Jammu\u2013Srinagar National Highway was reopened for heavy motor vehicles (HMVs) on the Kashmir side Thursday, ending days of anxiety and losses for truckers and fruit growers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Officials told the news agency\u2014Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that by Thursday evening, around 1,200 trucks had crossed Qazigund, nearly 40 per cent of them carrying apples.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The highway had remained shut since August 26 due to landslides, flash floods, and major road damage in Udhampur and Ramban.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For truckers who had spent sleepless nights parked along the road, the reopening was nothing short of a lifeline.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor 16 days, I slept inside my truck, eating whatever little food I could manage. My apples were rotting inside, and every day I thought of returning home empty-handed,\u201d said Mohammad Yousuf, a driver from Baramulla, as his vehicle finally moved past the Qazigund tunnel.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The prolonged closure had pushed many into debt, with perishable fruit consignments stuck on roads at the peak of Kashmir\u2019s apple season.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was worried about my family. The fruit boxes I carry belong to a grower in Pulwama. If they get damaged, I will have to bear the brunt. Today, when I finally drove out, it felt like a burden lifted from my chest,\u201d said Gull Mohammad Bhat, another driver from Pampore.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The convoy\u2019s slow but steady movement brought visible relief to the faces of those who had been waiting in long queues stretching from Anantnag outskirts to the Qazigund tunnel.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was not just about business losses; we were living on the roadside, away from our families, in the scorching sun and rain. I don\u2019t remember such a long blockade in recent years,\u201d said Ashiq Hussin Shah, a driver from Baramulla\u2014(KNO)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1200 trucks crossed so far, 40% carrying perishable fruit: Traffic officials &nbsp; Qazigund (Levdora), Sept 11 (KNO): After remaining closed for nearly 16 days, the Jammu&ndash;Srinagar National Highway was reopened for heavy motor vehicles (HMVs) on the Kashmir side Thursday, ending days of anxiety and losses for truckers and fruit growers. &nbsp; Officials told the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncatogorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90942,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90941\/revisions\/90942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}