Traffic on Srinagar-Jammu national highway restored

Ramban, Nov 10: The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was partially restored for stranded traffic after remaining blocked for several hours on Friday.

Heavy rain that lashed the area triggered mud and landslides at Dalwass, and on Mehar and Cafeteria Morh stretch ahead of Ramban besides triggering shooting stones at Seri and Tunnel T2 Kelamorh, blocking the movement of vehicular traffic for several hours.

Traffic authorities said that heavy rain since Thursday night triggered mud and landslides including shooting stones at several places and halted the traffic movement on the highway due to which all types of vehicles were stopped.

They said traffic was stopped at Udhampur, Chenani, Ramban, and Qazigund.

The traffic officials said that after a slight improvement in the weather on Friday afternoon, men and machinery were summoned by the contractor company of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) from other work sites and locations to clear the road.

Traffic officials said that the landslide was cleared at Dalwass, Mehar Cafeteria and the highway was partially restored in the evening.

They said that the stranded vehicles between Nashri and Banihal were being cleared on priority on a one-way basis at Dalwass near Nashri Tunnel and at Mehar-Cafeteria.

However, they said that due to mud and slush at Dalwass and at Mehar-Cafeteria vehicles were crossing these stretches at a slow pace.

SSP Traffic National Highway, Ramban, Rohit Baskotra, and Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ramban, Basheer-ul-Haq Chaudhary personally monitored the road restoration work on the Mehar-Cafeteria stretch in Ramban.

Traffic officials monitoring the regulation of traffic said that after clearing passenger vehicles, heavy vehicles were allowed to move toward Srinagar and Jammu. Traffic authorities have advised vehicle operators to drive cautiously as the condition of the road is slippery at Dalwass, Mehar-Cafeteria, and other places between Nashri and Banihal.