Date:03/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/03/stories/2008090355891200.htm

National

Poonch-Rawlakot bus service to run weekly

Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR: It has been decided to run the Poonch-Rawlakot bus service weekly from September 8. It is now a fortnightly.

The service was started in 2006, a year after the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service was launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

After a high level meeting here on Tuesday, Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra said infrastructural facilities along the Line of Control in Uri to start trade with Pak-occupied-Kashmir through the Muzaffarabad Road in Kashmir were near completion.

The Governor designated the State Industries & Commerce Department as the Nodal Agency for the trans-border trade and announced a budgetary grant of Rs.3 crore — Rs. 2 crore for creating facilities at Salamabad in Uri and Rs. 1 crore for Chaka-da-Bagh in Poonch. He also ordered action to acquire an additional 34 kanals of land at Salamabad for augmenting infrastructure.