Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 3: The vehicular traffic on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, the only all-weather road connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, was restored on second day this afternoon.
The National Highway remained closed on Friday for weekly maintenance and repair work.
However, a Traffic police official said that the vehicular movement on the highway could not be restored on Saturday morning due to clearance of boulders at Samroli near Chenani in Udhampur district.
The officials said that the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has pressed into service heavy machines for making double lane road at Samroli sliding point. Traffic could be restored on the highway this afternoon after clearance of these boulders.
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SSP Traffic, National Highway, J S Johar told the ‘Excelsior that on Friday, the Jammu-Srinagar highway was closed for maintenance/ repair work as usual practice these days. The National Highway Authority of India had initiated the work of removing some boulders dangerously placed on the hill side at Samroli where heavy landslides took place last week.
“The correction work at the sliding site was completed at around 1.30 pm today and then the movement of passenger vehicles on both the sides was allowed. Then in the evening, the movement of heavy goods carriers was allowed from Kashmir towards Jammu. After this, the movement of loaded tankers and trucks from Udhampur and Jammu side will be allowed,” Johar added.
Frequent closure of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway since its expansion has been a major cause of concern for the people living in Kashmir valley, where suspension of traffic results in increase in the rates of essential commodities by many folds.
Meanwhile, traffic remained suspended on 434-km long Srinagar-Leh National Highway, the only road linking Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh with Kashmir valley, since January 1, 2021 due to the accumulation of snow and avalanches. The BRO had cleared snow on the highway in the last week of February.
But, fresh snowfall and avalanches at Zojila forced authorities to close the highway again. A Beacon driver was killed on Wednesday in a snow avalanche near Zojilla Pass during snow clearance operation on Leh highway. Snow clearance operation continued to put through the highway.
The Mughal road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch districts in Jammu region, also remained closed due to snow since December last year. The road, which is considered as an alternative to Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, is likely to reopen later this month.
Meanwhile, snow clearance operation on Anantnag-Kishtwar and Bhaderwah-Bani-Basohli road was also going on at war-footing to resume traffic, suspended since December, the officials said.
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