Vehicular movement was suspended on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on Sunday following landslides, triggered by overnight rains, at a few places in Ramban district, officials said. A traffic department official said road clearance work at Kishtwari Pather and Mehar-Cafeteria Morh has been going on since morning to ensure early restoration of traffic on the 270-km-long highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country.
A massive landslide hit Kishtwari Pather near Nachalana in the Banihal area around midnight, while a mudslide and shooting stones from a hillock blocked the road at Mehar-Cafeteria Morh near Ramban town, the officials said. The traffic department official said that following the landslides, the Srinagar-bound vehicles were stopped at Nagrota in Jammu and at Jakhani in Udhampur this morning. Vehicles heading towards Jammu were not allowed to go beyond Qazigund in south Kashmir.
A truck was damaged after being 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, the officials said. The road is still blocked and people are advised to avoid travelling between the two capital cities till the road is cleared, they said.
The stranded vehicles will be cleared on priority once the restoration work on the route is complete, they added. The traffic department has said that no heavy motor vehicles (HMVs) will be allowed on the highway from 4 am on Monday to 7 am on Tuesday in view of urgent repairs and upgradation 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.
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