SRINAGAR : About 4,000 passengers and truckers remained stranded for the second day today at different places on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway which has been closed due to fresh landslides, triggered by heavy rain yesterday. More than 1,000 Kashmir-bound vehicles, mostly carrying passengers got stranded at different places on the highway following fresh landslides at Magarkote, Ramban, Ramsu and Penthal.
Hundreds of vehicles, including empty trucks and oil tankers, are also stranded on this side of the Jawahar tunnel for the past one week.
A traffic police official told that the highway, connecting the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country remained closed though the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has already pressed into service sophisticated machine and men to put through the road again.
However, he said traffic will be resumed on the highway after receiving green signal from the BRO and traffic police officials. But, he said, only stranded vehicles will be allowed to move towards their respective destinations before allowing fresh vehicles.
One-way traffic was resumed on March 31 afternoon after remaining closed since Friday last due to landslides and shooting stones at several places.
More than 1,000 vehicles, including those carrying passengers and trucks loaded with essentials, had left Jammu for Kashmir yesterday morning.
However, due to continuous rain , there were more landslides at different places, including Magarkote, Ramban, Penthal and Ramsu forcing authorities to suspend traffic again in the afternoon.
The Highway was closed initially for 24 hours on Friday afternoon to allow BRO to undertake repair work so that vehicles could pass safely in the avalanche-prone areas. However, heavy rains triggered fresh landslides at several places on the highway forcing authorities to suspend traffic on the highway. After working round the clock, the BRO put through the highway for one-way on March 31 afternoon. Since several thousand passengers, including women and children, were stranded at Jammu bus stand for the past about one week, it was decided to allow traffic from Jammu to Srinagar after the highway reopened.
Because of heavy rush of passengers at Jammu and shortage of essentials, particularly vegetables in the valley, it was decided to allow traffic from winter capital to Srinagar yesterday also. The road was again closed yesterday afternoon due to landslides. (AGENCIES)
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