Bandipora, Feb 02: With the Bandipora-Gurez route being shut for further more than a month and helicopters services remaining halted for the last two weeks; several people stranded in the snow-covered Gurez Valley in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Thursday demanded immediate evacuation.
The 84-km-long Bandipora-Gurez route stays shut during the winter period as the border area experiences substantial snowfall. In 2018, the administration initiated a helicopter service from Srinagar to Gurez, and from Bandipora to Gurez, at significantly reduced prices. This continues for the last four years.
However, the helicopter services have been halted for around 15 days with the authorities citing inclement weather as the reason. As a result, several people have been stuck in the Gurez Valley.
One of the stranded persons told Rising Kashmir that they were supposed to be flown out of Gurez last week but are stuck since the helicopter services have been stopped for “unspecified” reasons.
“We have been suffering a lot these days because of the stoppage of helicopter service last week. Even some patients are stranded at the Dawar sub-district hospital who need to be airlifted at the earliest,” he said.
A stranded student said that despite pre-registering with the authorities, he and many others have to appear in exams but are yet to be evacuated.
A social campaigner from Gurez, Lone Arshid, said, “For the last 15 days, the administration officials have been providing lame explanations related to the unpleasant weather for the suspension of the chopper facility while all other private helicopters still fly to Gurez Valley.”
As per the data available with Rising Kashmir, around seven hundred stranded people have registered at a control point set up by the district administration to monitor, register and airlift passengers to and from Gurez.
The evacuation of stranded passengers is dependent on weather, an official of the administration told Rising Kashmir. “The weather has not been favourbale for the last two weeks. Once it improves, we are ready to go,” he said.
