‘Rains wash away macadamisation hopes at 300-metre Tharad stretch’

Banihal, Sep 16: Project Director National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Shubham Yadav, said that the macadamisation of the affected 300 meters had been made impossible by the rains.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, Yadav said that traffic movement across the affected Udhampur stretch was ongoing at a very slow speed due to continuous rainfall for the past few days. He said that all necessary material had been stocked on the site for macadamisation of the worst-affected 300-metre-long stretch at Tharad, but persistent rains had made it impossible to lay the surface.

“Once macadam is laid, the problem of vehicles sinking will end,” Yadav said.

He said that a high-level team from NHAI Headquarters in Delhi, led by the Chief General Manager, accompanied by the Commissioner Secretary PWD, IGP Traffic, and other senior officials, visited Tharad, Udhampur, on Tuesday to assess the ground situation.

The Udhampur stretch of the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway continues to be a major source of trouble for thousands of road users and authorities, as efforts to restore the damaged road to normal traffic have failed for the past 21 days.

The ongoing disruption at Tharad near Udhampur has severely affected the movement of essential supplies bound for Kashmir and apple-laden trucks heading from Kashmir towards Jammu.

For the last week, vehicles have been pulled out one by one from sinking patches of road across Tharad land and mudslide areas.

The three-week-long blockade has stranded thousands of trucks at Qazigund, Srinagar, and the Udhampur-Jammu sector, leaving apple growers and traders to suffer heavy losses as crates of fruit begin to rot.

Agriculture Minister Javed Ahmad Dar, who visited Qazigund late evening on Monday along with MLA Banihal Sajjad Shaheen and other NC MLAs, assured stranded truck drivers that he would take up the matter with higher authorities of traffic to ensure smooth passage for apple trucks from Tuesday morning.

According to officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the sinking and uneven Tharad stretch remains the most difficult section to manage.

Intermittent rains have worsened the situation, turning the soil unstable and dangerous since September 11.

The makeshift 300-meter road built after removing the slush continues to trap vehicles, forcing machinery to push them out.

Only 30 to 40 vehicles are being cleared per hour due to the slow speed of vehicles, officials said.

However, they said that the situation was improving day by day at Tharad.

They said that the original highway at Tharad was buried under heavy debris, and complete restoration of the road and bridges could take several months, and a fresh Detailed Project Report (DPR) would be prepared before major reconstruction can begin.