Prof. Saleem Ayaz Rather
The mughal road was proposed in 1950 with the intention of improving the economy of Rajouri and Poonch Districts. The then Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Sheikh Abdullah had taken up the Project in 1979 and named it as the ” Mughal Road” but could not go ahead with the Project work and it was only in 2005 when the construction work of the Prestigious Project started . Initially the construction work was opposed by the Biodiversity conservation Trust, a local NGO and also the state wildlife deptt..They alleged that construction of Mughal road passing through the Heerpur sanctuary and harbouring highly endangered Markhor will disturb the habitat of the wild animal in this sanctuary but finally the supreme court gave conditional permission for the construction of the road.
The construction work was finally completed in December 2008 and light vehicles started plying on the road in summer 2010 So the mughal road is the road between Buffliaz a small town in Poonch district to shopian in Kashmir valley covering a distance of only 84 km which is a 3hours journey from shopian to Rajouri or Poonch and thus Mughal road became the alternate rout to Kashmir valley other than over crowded Jammu srinager highway through Jawhar Tunnel covering a distance of 300 kms from Jammu which was 12 hour journey earlier but due to better condition of the roads the time taken is now less.
The mughal road passes through Buffliaz, Behramgala, Noori Chamb, Chandimarh, Poshana, ChattaPani, Peer ki gali, Alia bad sari, Zaznar, Dubjan, Heerpur and Shopian in the Kashmir Valley. This road was used by Mughal emperors to travel and conquer Kashmir during sixteenth century. It was the rout used by Akbar the G reat to conquer Kashmir in 1586, and his son Emperor Jahangir died while returning from Kashmir on this road near Rajouri.
For the first time Mughal Road Car rally was organized in June 2010 with the sole purpose of encouraging adventure tourism and opening of the virgin upcoming tourism spots. The fourth mughal road car rally that was organized in june 2013 was a joint endeovour of the tourism department and J&k Bank in collaboration with Himalyan Motor Sport Shimla. The event is organized every year to through open the newly constructed roads and to make the areas known to people of the outside.
The venue for 33rd Annual kashmiri conference was selected as Poonch so as to have the glimpses of the newly constructed mughal road…. In this conferance……… Shabaz Rajour, a Prominent kashmiri poet hailing from Rajouri, said Pir Panjal region has always been with kashmiris, echoing their aspirations. “The opening of mughal road has once again reinforced that Poonch and Rajouri people are part of bigger civilization and culture of Kashmir, “he said, adding that till now people from Poonch , Haveli to Mandi were only considered a vote bank by politicians at Srinagar and Jammu. That has to change now. We are region of 11 lakh people having deep historical and cultural links with Kashmir valley. We feel we are integral part of Kashmir and kashmiri culture and these linkages will be further reinforced by opening of mughal road. Writers, poets ,intellectuals and journalists Participated in the 33rd annual kashmiri conference. With the opening of mughal road large no of people from Kashmir visit the holy shrine of Baba Ghulam shah Badsha at shadhra sharief which was otherwise not possible due to long distance. Businessman from Kashmir have started opening of their business units in twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch. Over 300 Taxis carry the passengers from Srinagar to Rajouri and Poonch and an equal no of Passangers from Rajouri and Poonch to Srinagar every day. Besides this Hundreds of load carriers shuttle with fresh vegetables and the apples. The apples which were sold at the rate of Rs, 50 /=Per kg in the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch the same apples are now sold at the rate of Rs 15/=per kg after opening of the mughal road thus boosting the econmy of these areas . Kashmiri wazan…..that was never exposed to these areas made its appearance in 2012 when it knocked the door of two kashmiri families where full wazwan was served in two marriage parties at Behrot in Rajouri .A load carrier carrying all items for the prepartion of Wazwan reached Rajouri from Srinagar through the mughal road. Not only this Unemployed Post graduate candidates hailing from kashmir after finding the distance very short preffered to work as lecturers on contractual basis in the colleges of twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch which they had not even dreamt of. Finding the distance very short Students hailing from twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch after completion of their Graduation joined university of Kashmir ,Central university of Kashmir and Awantipura Islamic universityfor Masters degree Programme , B.ED and other courses.
Some suggestions that I would like to pen down for consideration are
1.one of the busiest tourist destination situated in the middle of the mughal road is the Peer ki Gali which is known for famous shrine in the name of great sufi saint sheikh Ahamed karim(RA) who had stayed at this place for some time while going towards Kashmir valley. Home tourists, Holiday makers and people from all walks of life visit this Place as a Picnic spot. Like Gulmarg Gondola which is most prominent attraction the same cable car system can be installed at Peer ki Gali to attract not only the home tourists but also foreign tourists.
2. There is shortage of drinking water along the mughal road particularly at chatta pani and Peer ki Gali and the problem can be overcome with the installation of water Pumps.
3. Eco friendly huts can be constructed on important spots in order to host the guests and tourists, this can help to save the environment from degradation and also raise awareness among the People regarding sustained and environmentally friendly procedures and patterns.
4. Another problem that needs active consideration is installation of mobile towers along the mughal road as there is no signal after we cross chandi marh up to heerpur.
(The author is HOD Zoology Govt Degree College Thanamandi)
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