Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Feb 10: Residents of Karnah protested today against the Government for failing to build a tunnel at Sadhna Top throughout the years, which, they said, is causing them great difficulty.
Scores of people from Karnah and Tangdhar showed up in the Press Enclave and were heard shouting slogans in support of their demands, claiming that they endure problems every year as a result of the route getting blocked after the snowfall in the area.
Residents claimed that although they have been pleading with authorities to build a tunnel at Sadhna Top for the past three decades to make their community accessible year-round, they have only received empty promises in return.
“We are not demanding something new; rather, it has been our long pending demand that Karnah should be kept open and connected with the rest of the world by constructing the tunnel,” Mansoor Ahmad hailing from Tangdhar
He said that due to the snowfall, the Srinagar-Tandhar road remains closed, which they said affects them. “DPR for the construction of the tunnel has been finalized; the work needs to start now without any delay.”
Another protestor said that three of the dead bodies of their relatives are lying in the mortuary of District Hospital Handwara for the last three days “but due to blockade of road, we are unable to shift them to Karnah,”
They said that after the Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari in 2021 announced that the tunnel would be constructed for Karnah, “we were happy. However, despite the announcement, little has actually changed on the ground; two years have passed and there has been no discernible progress.”
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