Karnah residents stage protest, demand construction of tunnel at Sadhna pass

Srinagar, Feb 10: The residents of border town Karnah in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district have been protesting for over three decades seeking the construction of a tunnel at Sadhna pass on the Kupwara-Tangdar road, which has emerged as a death trap as several people have lost their lives in accidents over the last many years.
The residents of town on Friday registered their protest at the press enclave in Srinagar. Scores of residents from the area gathered at Mushtaq Ali Lal Chowk and were sloganeering in support of their demands.
Karnah remains cut off from the rest of the valley whenever it snows, as the Kupwara-Karnah road gets blocked due to the accumulation of snow at Sadhna Pass, which is over 11, 000 feet above sea level.
The protestors said more than 200 people have died in the last six years due to massive avalanches at Sadhna top, adding the construction of the Sadhna Pass tunnel will provide Karnah, a far-flung area near the Line of Control (LOC) in Kupwara district, all-weather connectivity with the rest of the state.
The protestors stated that they have been demanding a tunnel for the last thirty years, but no steps have been taken by the authorities to build one there, which would provide significant relief to thousands of people.
“When it snows, we have to carry patients on our shoulders and trek to reach the hospitals in Kupwara or Srinagar as we don’t have any medium of transport,” protestors added.
Syed Mohammad, a protestor, said that every winter season it snows heavily at Sadhna and the Kupwara-Karnah stretch becomes highly vulnerable to avalanches and landslides. “It gets disconnected from the rest of Kashmir for around, creating shortages of essential and medical supplies.”
Another protestor said that two bodies were kept in DH Handwara for three days last week due to heavy snowfall.
He said that they have taken up the matter with the administration, but to no avail. “For the last four years, we have only been told that a detailed project report (DPR) of the tunnel is being prepared, but no one knows the reality,” he said.