Roads in Kashmir are blocked with snow. Travelling through roadways is not an option in Kashmir anymore. And due to rising demand of air-tickets, there has been an intense inflation of price on Saturday came at a cost of Rs 38,379. At the same time, the cheapest ticket from Srinagar to Mumbai was going for Rs 73,647.
As per airline records, air-tickets to from Mumbai to New York for Saturday came at a cost of Rs 38,379 while the cheapest ticket from Srinagar to Mumbai was going for Rs 73,647! On Friday and Saturday, those stuck in the beautiful snow-covered valleys of Srinagar and had to pay double the fare from New York to Mumbai. However, lucky were the people who could actually get themselves a ticket because they are all sold out for the weekend.
It was a similar story for those hoping to reach Delhi. The Friday morning fare for Saturday was Rs 17,300 but by evening, no tickets were available to the national capital for the weekend on any airline, including Air India, the national carrier. This officially cuts off travel to or from Kashmir despite the fact that it was just Friday that the airports became functional after three days.
No wonder then, that Shahid Choudhary, director, information, J&K government had this to tweet in the morning: “Delhi-New York airfares are cheaper than Delhi-Srinagar. Just helping to make an informed choice :)”
“This (the steep fares) is unfair. Kashmir suffers because of this, and this is not in our domain. We have been writing to the Centre about it, time and again,” J-K government spokesman and Education Minister Nayeem Akhtar told The Indian Express.
