Kupwara, October 16 (KNO) : Thousands of inhabitants from Karnah in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Tuesday staged a protest in favour of their long pending demand for the construction of a tunnel through Sadhna pass on Kupwara-Tangdhar highway, which has emerged a death trap over the years.
The residents assembled at tehsil Headquarter of Karnah and chanted slogans in fvaour of their demand. Reports reaching (KNO) that all the colleges, schools, shops and other business establishments were closed as a mark of protest to demand construction of Sadhna pass tunnel.
“We were assured by the authorities that the construction work of the tunnel will be started soon but it seems that the paper work is yet not done for this,” said a protesting resident of Tangdhar. “We have closed all the business establishments, schools, colleges to protest in favour of demand, but authorities didn’t pay heed to our sufferings,” he added.
“The snowing at Sadhna top has started yesterday, we are not able to move towards district headquarters, if the tunnel would have been constructed, we can have safely travel to Kupwara in these coming months of coming harsh winter,” said Zubair Ahmad. The residents of Karnah have been demanding the tunnel more vigorously since 5 January when 11 persons died in a snow avalanche near the Sadhna top which connects Karnah with the rest of Valley.(KNO)