Highway reopens; trucks laden with items reach Srinagar

By: Musaib Iqbal MK

Srinagar

Jammu-Srinagar highway reopened for one way traffic after several days of closure as the heavy rains triggered landslides and mudslides at various spots especially in Udhampur and Ramban sector.

The frequent closure of highways has an impact on the prices of essential items both in Srinagar and Leh and the authorities have not been able to plug the loopholes at various risky places which result in the closure of this surface link of Leh and Kashmir with the rest of the world.

As the one way traffic was allowed hundreds of trucks laden with essential commodities have reached Srinagar and many such trucks are basically to head to Leh but despite best efforts by the authorities to reopen Srinagar-Leh highway much earlier during the current month its again closed due to the recent inclement weather.

Meanwhile PTI in its report said about the reopening of the highway that one-way traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, which remained suspended for the last two days due to landslides, was restored in the Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, officials said.

The highway opened in the early hours of the day after the clearance of slides, triggered by incessant rains, near Cafeteria Morh in the district.

“No fresh traffic is allowed today (Thursday) on the highway”, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Traffic (National Highway Ramban) Parul Bhardwaj said, adding, stranded traffic between Ramban and Nashri was allowed in “one way” towards the valley after clearing landslides from the way.

The vehicles being allowed to move to Srinagar were those carrying stranded passengers, perishable and essential Commodities, and oil tankers.

The highway was closed on Monday following snowfall in the high-altitude areas and incessant rains in the plains in most parts of the union territory during the last three days.

The Jawahar Tunnel, the gateway to the Kashmir valley along the highway, also experienced an inch of snowfall on Tuesday morning but the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) cleared the road stretch.

Bhardwaj said landslides and shooting of stones formed hillocks, overlooking the highway, and blocked the road at 14 places between Nashri and Banihal.

With inputs from PTI