After 15 hours, Jammu-Srinagar national highway reopens

Banihal/Jammu, Mar 31

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Traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was suspended for over 15 hours on Sunday due to landslides triggered by overnight rain at a few places in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district, officials said.

Hundreds of stranded vehicles were allowed to move towards their respective destinations after the route was cleared around 4 pm, the traffic department officials said.

The 270-km-long highway is the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country.

The highway was closed for vehicular movement following a massive landslide at Kishtwari Pather near Banihal around midnight, and a mudslide and shooting stones at Mehar-Cafeteria Morh near Ramban town, the officials said. A truck was damaged after it was hit by a rock that rolled down a hillock at Panthiyal in Ramban late on Saturday evening. The truck driver and his helper escaped unhurt, they said.

The traffic department has said that no heavy motor vehicles (HMVs) would be allowed on the highway from 4 am on Monday to 7 am on Tuesday in view of “urgent repairs and upgrading of the airstrip stretch” near Bijbehara in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

“Light motor vehicles (LMV) shall be diverted to the old national highway alignment between Alistop and Doonipora, including Wanpoh, Khanabal, Batengoo, Padshahi Bagh and Bijbihara. Truck drivers are advised to avoid their journey on the highway from 4 am on April 1 (Monday) to 7 am on April 2 (Tuesday),” the department said.