Relentless rains worsen damage to NH-44 in Udhampur-Banihal sector

Banihal, Sep 02: The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway suffered further damage on Tuesday evening following continuous rains in Banihal-Udhampur sector of NH-44.

Fresh landslides and sinking of land were reported in the Balli Nallah and Tharad bridge areas of Udhampur district this evening, leading a severe blow to early restoration efforts of authorities on NH-44.

Official0 sources said that in addition to the sinking road and land patches in Udhampur, a major retaining wall of highway collapsed outside Shalgadi tunnel, about six-kilometres away from Banihal late evening on Tuesday. The debris from the fallen wall slid onto the lower road, creating further hurdles for traffic movement.

Highway was closed from Tuesday morning after fresh rains trigger shooting stones and land sliding incidents in Ramban and Udhampur districts and traffic was halted at several locations of highway and was not allowed from Udhampur and Qazigund.