Anantnag: Animals straying onto unfenced stretches of Srinagar-Qazigund has turned the highway accident prone putting lives of commuters in peril.
The newly constructed highway was thrown open to vehicular movement more than a year ago. However, some stretches of the highway were left unfenced, particularly the stretches where construction is still pending.
“These unfenced stretches allow animals to enter the highway. Cows, horses, dogs and other stray animals come on the highway,” Imtiyaz Ahmad, who travels on the highway from Anantnag to Srinagar daily.
He said that he has had a few narrow escapes in the past especially during foggy days last week.
The commuters complain that even the existing cable fencing does not stop animals from straying onto the highway.
The commuters say that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) should take cognizance and act before some serious mishap takes place on the highway.
“The road allows drivers to speed up, leaving them all the more vulnerable in presence of stray animals on the highway,” the commuters said.
Kashmir Regional Officer, NHAI Hemraj Bhagat said that there is a proposal to construct a wall along the NH-44.
“We would have fenced the unfenced parts as well but there is a proposal of a wall along the highway. We are waiting for that proposal to materialize so that money is not wasted in first fencing and then removing it for the construction of the wall,” Bhagat told Kashmir Reader.

Suhail A Shah