Landslides block Jammu-Srinagar highway

Banihal/Jammu, July 8

The Jammu-Srinagar national highway was closed for vehicular traffic due to landslides triggered by heavy rain at several places in Ramban district on Friday, officials said.

A few hundred vehicles, including those carrying a batch of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims, are stranded at different points of the highway, they said.

The 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with rest of the country, was blocked by shooting stones, landslides and mudslides at six places in Ramban district, they said.

Ramban Deputy Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) Pardeep Sain, who is also the yatra officer at Chanderkoot, said heavy showers lashed the Ramban sector between 3 and 4 am.

He said the highway was closed at Mehaar, Cafeteria Mode, Chamba, Anokhifall, Kelamode and Pantiyal.

Work on clearing the highway has begun and it will take at least two to three hours for the restoration of traffic movement, he added.