Truck traffic on highway down by 60 per cent

In fact, when the body of a driver, who succumbed in AIIMS after being injured during an attack on the highway, was buried late last evening, it again created fear psychosis about the security along the highway. Thousands attended his funeral. The passenger vehicles especially Sumo taxis today came up with an unusual mechanism to ferry desperate passengers and avoid the wrath of the protestors. The taxis with Kashmir number plates take their passengers till Rambhan on Srinagar-Jammu national highway where they swap them with Kashmir bound passengers arriving in taxis with Jammu number plates.

Though the army is still out patrolling the highway, the psychological impact of the attacks is more profound than the actual situation along this 390 kilometre road link.

Here are the details of the stocks, decrease in truck traffic from either side of the highway and depleting stocks of medicine.

``There is cotton shortage especially in Bones and Joints hospital here. We had to take loan from Army's 92 base hospital,'' said Medical Superintendent,

SMHS, Dr Waseem Qureshi. ``Cotton stockist for Srinagar hospitals is Jammu based that is why there is so much of a problem. Now we have issued emergency tenders''.

Medical Superintendent, Kashmir's main maternity hospital Lal Ded Dr Latief Chisti told the Indian Express that there is a shortage of anesthetic agents and dressing material. ``The problem is compounded by the fact that these products are not available in open market,'' he said.

SMHS Medical Superintendent Dr Wasim Qureshi said that for the last 20 days they have received only two trucks of supplies. ``It can hardly last for next three weeks,'' Qureshi said. ``Generally, we have stocks for two months available. For X-ray films, we had to send our own drivers to get it from Chandigarh and some stocks were airlifted too''. He said they have stocks of Life saving drugs for four weeks while the normal stock strength is for two months.

The records with Fruit Growers show that 2148 trucks had taken fruit to Azadpur mandi and other terminal mandis across country between August 1 to August 18 last year. This year, only 890 truck-loads of fruit have managed to leave Kashmir.

... contd.