Sgr-Jmu NH open; Sgr-Leh NH, Mughal Road closed

Ramban/ Ganderbal/ Rajouri, Jan 5: The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway remained open for two-way movement of Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) and heavy vehicles on Sunday, traffic authorities said.

They said, subject to fair weather and good road conditions, LMVs and heavy vehicles would be allowed to ply on both sides of the highway on Monday.

However, in view of the inclement weather advisory issued by the Indian Meteorological Department IMD), the Traffic Department suggested people, commuters, and vehicle operators not to undertake journeys on the highway without confirming the status of the road from Traffic Control Units (TCUs) of Srinagar, Jammu, Udhampur, and Ramban and the check official Facebook pages and X handle of J&K Traffic Police on Monday.

Earlier during the day, traffic authorities said the highway remained open but traffic movement remained slow as usual due to the breakdown of a few heavy vehicles and as a result of single-lane and poor condition of road stretch at Dalwass, Mehar Cafeteria, and between Maroog and Kishtwari Pathar areas of Ramban.

They said hundreds of vehicles crossed the Chenani-Nashri and Banihal-Qazigund tunnels till late Sunday evening.

Traffic officials at TCU Ramban late Sunday evening said that the highway was open for two-way traffic.

Meanwhile, the Traffic Department issued a fresh advisory for Monday stating that subject to fair weather and good road conditions, LMVs and heavy vehicles would be allowed to ply on both sides of the highway.

The traffic authorities advised the commuters, passengers, and LMV operators not to undertake journeys on the highway during the night hours due to apprehension of shooting stones between the Ramban and Banihal sectors.

“For safe and secure journeys, prefer journeys on the highway during day time only,” they said.

Meanwhile, the Srinagar-Leh National Highway was temporarily closed to traffic on Sunday evening.

“It has been snowing in Sonamarg and Zojila since Sunday afternoon. The traffic from both the Sonamarg and Kargil sides has been stopped. Any decision to allow traffic on the road will be subject to improvement in weather conditions and clearance from the BRO,” a Traffic Police official said.

Meanwhile, the tourists were seen enjoying the snowfall at Sonamarg.

“We are happy that it is snowing here and it made our visit to Kashmir more pleasant,” a group of tourists said.

The authorities allowed only vehicles with anti-skid chains towards Sonamarg and later with the start of heavy snowfall, the tourists on day visits were advised to leave Sonamarg to avoid any inconvenience.

Sonamarg received over 3 inches of snow while the Zojila Pass received 4 to 5 inches of snow till Sunday evening.

The Mughal Road also remained closed for the ninth day while the areas around it received fresh snowfall on Sunday. The fresh snowfall is expected to cause further delay in the road restoration earlier expected in a day or two.

The Mughal Road was closed nine days ago after the area received snowfall.

The Mechanical Engineering Department completed the snow clearance work on Monday but the road could not be restored due to slippery conditions.

Since Monday, officials said that the road was closed due to slippery surfaces and apprehensions of accidents.

“We were expecting some improvement in road surface in terms of slippery conditions today but the area has received fresh snowfall and the intensity of snow is expected to increase further,” Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Surankote, Farooq Khan Nazki told Greater Kashmir.

He said that almost 6 to 8 inches of snowfall had been received by Sunday evening and it was expected to increase further.