Authorities on Tuesday suspended traffic along the strategic Jammu-Srinagar national highway to undertake repair works at several places in Ramban district, officials said. Repairs were necessitated after snowfall and heavy rains last Thursday rendered the arterial road severely damaged at several places between Nashri and Banihal, the officials said.
They said several earth movers were pressed into the service by the agencies concerned at the affected portions, including Kishtwari Pather, Sher Bibi, Nachlana, Hingni, Shalgadi, Mehar, Cafeteria Morh and Dalwas, where the rain-triggered landslides had reduced the road to single lane.
The 270-km highway is the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with rest of the country and the damaged portions along with slippery conditions due to snow at a few more places had badly hit the smooth movement of vehicles over the past one week.
“The road widening operation is going on at over half-a-dozen places to make the highway safe for travel. Besides, a mixture of urea and salt has been sprinkled on the icy road at Sher Bibi, Nachlana, Rattan Bass and Chamalwas to address the problem of slow movement of vehicles,” Senior Superintendent of Police, Traffic (National Highway), Rohit Baskotra told.
He said the traffic on the highway was suspended for two hours at Dalwas on Monday as well to remove the landslide debris.
“We are hopeful of completing the repair work by Wednesday morning to ensure resumption of vehicular movement on the highway from both sides,” he said.
Besides the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, the 434-km Srinagar-Leh national highway, Mughal road connecting twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri with south Kashmir’s Shopian, Bhaderwah-Chamba road linking Doda district with Himachal Pradesh and Kishtwar-Sinthan-Anantnag have been closed for the past one week due to snow accumulation.