Mughal Road restored for traffic

Rajouri, Apr 20: The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) Sunday succeeded in restoring the Mughal Road, providing the much-needed relief in restoring surface connectivity of Kashmir with the rest of the country at a time when the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway got closed in Ramban district due to heavy rainfall and flash floods Saturday night.

The restoration of Srinagar-Jammu National Highway is expected to take a few days and Mughal Road is now the only direct means of surface connectivity to and fro Kashmir valley.

The road, connecting Rajouri and Poonch districts of Pir Panjal region with Shopian district of south Kashmir was closed since Friday evening.

The BRO on Saturday took up necessary road clearance work and expedited it on early Sunday morning.

“The road clearance work was going on but it was expedited soon after we came to know about the damage to the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway,” Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Surankote Farooq Khan told Greater Kashmir.

He said that the road clearance work was completed on Sunday afternoon and traffic was restored immediately thereafter to facilitate the movement of all those people who were stuck at one place or the other due to the closure of Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

Khan said that restrictions on night time movement of vehicles would continue to be there on Mughal Road and traffic would only be allowed to move in the morning hours on Monday. Meanwhile, the authorities have asked the field staff of the concerned departments to remain prepared to deal with the situation that might arise after an increase in the number of vehicles plying on the Mughal Road.

After the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, the majority of the traffic on the highway has been diverted through Mughal.

“The flow of traffic started to increase on Sunday evening. We are expecting a multifold increase in days to come till the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway is restored,” Khan said. “The concerned departments have been asked to ensure that all arrangements are made on the ground to deal with the rise in traffic.”

He said that the BRO had been asked to ensure the deployment of adequate road clearance machinery for the Mughal Road while hospitals enroute have also been asked to keep reaction teams ready.