Srinagar: Congress General Secretary in-charge Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday conveyed that the Bharat Jodo Yatra's afternoon leg in Ramban and Banihal in Jammu and Kashmir, which was slated to commence today, has been canceled due to bad weather. He further informed that the Yatra will resume the next day on January 27 at 8 am.
Taking to his official Twitter account, Ramesh wrote, "Due to poor weather conditions and landslides in the area, the afternoon leg of Bharat Jodo Yatra in Ramban & Banihal has been canceled...Yatra will resume the day after, January 27th at 8 am."
Amid incessant rains, Gandhi resumed the march from Ramban Wednesday morning but inclement weather forced its suspension. The march will now resume on Friday as tomorrow is a rest day. The journey from Ramban to Banihal along the 270-km Jammu-Srinagar national highway - the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country -- is the most challenging due to several problematic stretches, including Panthiyal, Mehar and Magerkote which are prone to the shooting of stones from the hillocks overlooking the arterial road.
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Traffic on the highway was suspended Wednesday morning after heavy rains triggered the shooting of stones at a few places in the Ramban district that left a truck driver dead and two others injured. The march was previously scheduled to make two night halts at Ramban and Banihal along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway before its culmination in Srinagar.
Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra entered the state of Jammu and Kashmir on January 19. The march, which started from Kanyakumari on September 7, is scheduled to end in Srinagar on January 30. The first day of the march in Jammu and Kashmir was scheduled to start at 7 am but could begin only after 7.45 am in view of inclement weather, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh told reporters at the end of the first day of the yatra.
At the end of the Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi would have covered a distance of 350 kilometers in the union territory. As per schedule, the yatra will culminate in Srinagar on January 30 with a public rally to be addressed by Rahul Gandhi at the Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium.
