Highway remains shut for third consecutive day, temporary restoration may take two more days

Banihal, Sep 04: The 270-kilometres long Jammu–Srinagar National Highway (NH-44) remained closed for the third consecutive day on Thursday following continuous rainfall and fresh landslides in Udhampur, Ramban, and Banihal sectors.

Officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said the restoration of the road may take at least two more days due to worsening ground conditions.

Heavy rainfall from Tuesday morning till Wednesday evening triggered fresh landslides at multiple locations, including Tharad, Bali Nallah, Chanderkoot and Banihal sector of NH 44, bringing traffic movement to a complete halt. Over the past ten days, the highway has remained blocked for a total of nine days, severely affecting connectivity between Jammu and Kashmir.

Although restoration work was initiated after an improvement in weather on Thursday morning, fresh showers in the afternoon once again disrupted clearance operations in Udhampur, where debris flow and sinking land continue to pose major hurdles.

Project Director NHAI Shubham Yadav told  Greater Kashmir over phone from Udhampur this evening that heavy machinery engaged in the operation was repeatedly getting stuck in slush and debris. “The Tharad stretch has become a major challenge. The changing ground conditions make it difficult to give any exact timeline for full restoration, but we have set a deadline of Friday evening to restore temporary movement of traffic on NH ,” Yadav said.

He added that clearance work at Bali Nallah is underway, while the Ramban–Banihal sector has been made motorable for one way traffic this evening.

SSP traffic NHW Raja Adil Hameed and officials from district administration Udhampur closely monitoring restoration work at Udhampur.

Meanwhile,  the 55-km Ramban–Gool road remains closed after a portion of approaching road of a  bridge collapse and multiple landslides, cutting off access to thousands of residents across the Chenab river and sub division Gool - Sangaldan. An official from The Border Roads Organisation BRO said that theen and machinery has been pressed into service to restore this vital road linking Ramban - Gool and Reasi belt.