Governor NN Vohra has requested Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari to declare the historic 84-km-long Mughal Road, connecting Shopian in the Kashmir valley with Bafliaz in Poonch district of the Jammu region, as a national highway.
The Governor has also requested the Union Minister to approve construction of an 8-km-long Chattapani-Zaznar tunnel to make the Mughal Road an all-weather link.
In a letter, the Governor has conveyed that the road has several avalanche-prone locations near Pir Ki Gali and that a considerable portion of it remains snowbound during the winter, rendering it inoperative from late November to April-end.
The Governor has noted that the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has already taken an excellent initiative and declared the Jammu-Akhnoor-Poonch (NH-144A) and the Srinagar-Shopian-Qazigund (NH-444) roads as the new national highways.
The declaration of the Mughal Road as a national highway and construction of the Zaznar tunnel will provide a reliable all-weather alternative route to link Jammu with Srinagar via the Rajouri-Shopian axis.
The road has provided connectivity across the Pir Panjal range, connecting Shopian (in Kashmir division) with Bafliaz (in Jammu division).
Centre urged to declare Mughal Road as NH
