Mughal Road re-opens after 42-hour closure, essential supplies given priority

Rajouri, Sep 4: Traffic resumed Thursday on the Mughal Road after a 42-hour closure caused by landslides and shooting stones, with authorities prioritising trucks and tankers carrying essential supplies to the Kashmir Valley.

Mughal Road, connecting the Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu province with Shopian of Kashmir, is presently the only road stretch that is connecting the entire Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country amid the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway due to large-scale damages between Udhampur and Ramban.

The road got blocked in the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday after massive landslides and shooting stones at multiple places.

On Wednesday, the road restoration work was taken up but could not be continued due to bad weather till late afternoon and regular shooting stones.

However, on Thursday morning, road restoration work was taken up as a priority, and debris from the slide and shooting stones was cleared, following which movement of Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) was restored at around 2 PM after clearing stuck LMVs.

Officials said more slide clearance work was taken up for an hour, and the road was accordingly restored for Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) at around 5 PM.

Officials stated that in the first leg, the HMVs, including trucks and tankers especially carrying essentials towards the valley and stuck in Rajouri and Poonch, were given clean and priority passage to ensure an uninterrupted supply of essentials to the valley.

"Only HMVs from Poonch to Kashmir were allowed," they said.

Earlier, during the last two days, hundreds of vehicles, including HMVs carrying essentials, remained stuck in the Rajouri and Poonch districts due to the closure of Mughal Road.