For the first time in its history, Jammu and Kashmir government has facilitated the journey of nomads to the higher reaches by transporting livestock and families of the migratory tribal population from various districts.
After the announcement made by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha regarding various tribal welfare measures, the department of Tribal affairs initiated a special project for a transhumance support system including transit accommodations and transport facilities for the migratory population by arranging 40 trucks. These vehicles have been procured by the Tribal Affairs Department through J&K Road Transport Corporation.
Come summer in Kashmir, the nomadic population of Jammu and Kashmir starts moving towards the Valley for onward trekking to high pastures. Kashmir offers the best and stimulant grazing for the livestock, which keeps roaming whatever the weather conditions prevail on higher reaches.
Thus far, the movement of shepherds and cattle breeders used to be a common phenomenon in Jammu areas up to Khanabal via a nearly 290 km national highway.
However, the UT administration of Jammu and Kashmir, for the first time, put a halt to the laborious exercise of moving over vehicularly congested roads and deployed 40 Road Transport Corporation trucks for the onward journey of cattle and cattle breeders up to the high pastures.
Every year thousands of nomads start seasonal migration to higher reaches of Kashmir
Every year by ending March, thousands of nomads begin their annual seasonal journey with lakhs of sheep and goats from the Jammu region to reach the Kashmir Valley.
These families embark on their journey towards the alpine pastures for grazing during the summer before returning to warmer districts of the Jammu region in October as the temperature goes down.
The hard journey from Jammu on foot to the greener pastures of Kashmir used to consume a lot of precious time for nomads leading to financial loss and physical strain. The hardships of these nomads further aggravated over the years due to the dwindling number of the primary source of transportation, horses. Transportation of their household goods and cattle to the upper reaches through tricks and load carriers was a long pending demand of these nomads before the administration.
Tribal Affairs Department procured a fleet of 40 trucks
The Tribal Affairs Department procured a fleet of 40 trucks for transporting around 30,000 families from Jammu to Kashmir via the Mughal road and National Highway-44 connecting Jammu with Srinagar. These trucks were procured by the department through J&K Road Transport Corporation.
This initiative has been taken under the direction of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha who has announced various steps for the welfare of tribals of J&K", Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Secretary, Tribal Affairs Department said during the flagging of trucks.
He said that this initiative will minimize the hardships being faced by nomads during seasonal migration adding that this is for the first time in the history of J&K that livestock of tribals is being transported to highland pastures in trucks.
Pertinently, Jammu and Kashmir government had earlier announced the provision of transport/freight services for the migratory tribal population during the annual migration to highland pastures. There was persistent demand from the migratory tribal community that they face a lot of hardships during migration due to traffic jams and other hindrances and to make their journey smoother they should be provided some transportation mode.
It was observed that sometimes due to harsh weather conditions there used to occur huge losses of livestock and other damages to tribal families. The budget announcement made by the finance minister mentioned that transportation viz-a-viz transit facilities will be provided to the migratory tribal population.
Lieutenant Governor has committed to providing transportation support and transit facilities to 100 percent migratory tribal population on National Highway and Mughal Road.
