Srinagar-Jammu National Highway open for one-way traffic

Ramban, Sep 28: The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway remained open for one-way traffic on Sunday, with heavy vehicles allowed towards Kashmir and Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) towards Jammu.

Traffic authorities said the movement of vehicles remained slow due to single-lane stretches, uneven and undulating road surfaces at Tharad, bottlenecks between Nashri-Dalwass, and Maroog-Kishtwari Pattar.

The on-foot movement of nomadic families with their livestock towards Jammu also added to the delays.

Officials monitoring the regulation of traffic at Nashri said that hundreds of heavy vehicles bound for Kashmir crossed the Chenani-Nashri tunnel till late Sunday evening, albeit at a slow pace. Earlier in the day, hundreds of LMV passenger vehicles bound for Jammu from Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, and Kashmir were allowed to move.

Traffic officials said that passenger vehicles heading to Doda, Kishtwar, and Ramban districts were permitted from Nagrota, Jammu, between 7 am and 10 am.

Meanwhile, advised commuters and vehicle operators not to travel on the highway against the official advisory.

They urged travellers to check the latest road status from the Traffic Control Units in Jammu, Srinagar, Udhampur, and Ramban, or through the Traffic Department’s official social media handles on X and Facebook, before planning their journey on Monday.

Traffic authorities in a fresh advisory for Monday said that heavy vehicles would be allowed to move towards Jammu from Qazigund, Kashmir, while LMV passenger vehicles would be allowed to move towards Kashmir from Jammu on Monday.

However, some commuters complained that helpline numbers of the Traffic Control Units remained unresponsive.

“The numbers are always busy or engaged and rarely connect,” a group of travellers said.