By Agence India Press
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Congress Chief Saifuddin Soz on Monday requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to direct concerned authorities to put off the repair work at the Srinagar airport as its closure for 15 days would cause immense hardships to people. Soz met the Prime Minister in New Delhi and told him till an alternative arrangement was made, the airport should not be shut for repair work, the Rajya Sabha MP said in a statement in Srinagar.
“I met the Prime Minister today and made strong plea before him for his intervention to get the repairs of the runway at Srinagar Airport postponed. I explained to the Prime Minister that closing down of Airport from 1st of September to 15th of September would cause very great hardship to the people of Kashmir particularly because the festival of Eid falls on 10th of September and several days before and after Eid thousands of Kashmiris, spread over India, would like to travel to Kashmir and get back to their place of work and, therefore, the Airport can’t be closed,” Soz said in a statement.
“It is now clear the work will not be undertaken from September one as there is no question of closing the airport till an alternative arrangement is available,” he said.
“I told the PM unless an alternative airport at Awantipora was thrown to air traffic, the repair work should not be undertaken,” the statement said.