Jammu-Srinagar national highway reopens for stranded vehicles

Banihal/Jammu, April 18

Over 1,500 stranded vehicles, including trucks carrying fuel and other essential commodities, left for Kashmir as authorities reopened the Jammu-Srinagar national highway for stranded vehicles on Sunday after the road was cleared of landslide debris at different places in Ramban district, officials said.

However, no fresh traffic was allowed either from Srinagar or Jammu in the morning owing to the closure of the highway, they said.

The traffic on the highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was suspended on Saturday after heavy rains triggered landslides and shooting of stones from the hillocks overlooking the highway at several places between Ramban and Ramsu including Cafeteria Morh and Panthiyal.

The officials said the agencies concerned worked overtime and cleared the highway of the landslide debris, paving way for the resumption of traffic.

Several hundred Jammu-bound stranded vehicles were cleared Saturday night itself, while over 1,500 vehicles on their way to Kashmir, mostly trucks carrying essential supplies to the Valley, were allowed to move from Udhampur and Ramban in the afternoon after completion of the road clearance operation, they said.

The officials said the weather has also improved after several days of incessant rains, brightening the chances of the resumption of one-way traffic on the highway from Monday.

The traffic on the highway is restricted to one-way in view of the ongoing four-laning project and plies alternatively from the twin capital cities. — PTI