Explosives used to crack boulders, clear Jammu-Srinagar highway

Jammu, June 23

As several areas of Jammu and Kashmir remained disconnected due to landslides triggered by incessant rains, explosives were used to blast boulders that were hampering the ongoing restoration work on the 270-km-long Jammu-Srinagar national highway, officials said.

While the traffic from Ramban to Srinagar was restored by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), a major chunk of the highway was washed away at Samroli in Udhampur that did not allow traffic from Jammu to move towards Ramban.

With improvement in weather, the restoration work at over six places in Udhampur and Ramban districts was expedited in the morning as over 700 Kashmir-bound stranded vehicles, mostly trucks carrying essential commodities, were cleared, the officials said.

Efforts were on to clear the remaining 1,300 vehicles that were stranded on the highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country. Explosives were used to blast boulders at Dewal bridge near Samroli in Udhampur district, where a huge landslide had blocked a long stretch of the road. Many locals who know internal roads were able to dodge the roadblock at Samroli and reach Jammu from Ramban. Deputy Commissioner Musarrat Islam said 25 out of the around 30 areas hit by landslides and mudslides on the highway were cleared.

Meanwhile, the Army came to the rescue of scores of Gujjars stranded on passes and mountainous regions for the past few days. In view of the large number of tourists and locals stranded at different places, the Army sent teams to rescue stranded passengers and Gujjars. “Two columns of the Army braving inclement weather for 24 hours reached Kogara in Rajouri and provided food and medicines to six tribal families,” read a statement by the White Night Corps. The Army also reached high mountain passes and rescued the nomadic community.

The traffic police in an advisory have asked the truckers with up to 10 tyres to use the Mughal road from Jammu towards Srinagar and vice-versa. “On June 24, the movement of all types of vehicles shall remain suspended on the Jammu-Srinagar NH in view of major landslide near Dewal bridge which has damaged both tubes of the road where restoration work could not be completed till today evening,” the advisory stated.

Tourist guide drowns, trekker missing

Srinagar: A tourist guide drowned while a trekker from Uttarakhand is reported missing from the Tarsar Lake area in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, officials said on Thursday. “Tourist guide Shakeel Ahmad of Ganderbal district drowned in the Tarsar Lake on Wednesday. His body was fished out on Thursday,” an official said. The officials said a trekker from Uttarakhand was also feared dead after he slipped into the waterbody during heavy rainfall on Wednesday. A group of 11 trekkers from various states, accompanied by three local guides, had set on an expedition before heavy rainfall swept the Kashmir valley from June 19. “Ten tourists and two local guides have been rescued,” the officials said. pti

Multiple landslides

• A major chunk of the highway was washed away at Samroli in Udhampur
• With improvement in weather, restoration work on at over six places in Udhampur and Ramban
• Explosives used to blast boulders at Dewal bridge near Samroli in Udhampur