SRINAGAR:The national highway connecting the Ladakh region with Kashmir will remain closed today, while 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu and historic Mughal road are through for traffic.
A traffic police official told UNI here that the 434-km-long Srinagar-Leh National Highway was closed today to allow Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to remove the debris of landslides and repair the damaged portion of the road at Gund on Srinagar-Baltal base camp of holy Amarnath cave shrine.
He said the road was damaged due to cloudburst, triggering landslides at Kullan and other areas in Gund tehsil on the highway on July 16 evening, affecting Amarnath pilgrims also. However, traffic was partially resumed for one-way yesterday to allow stranded vehicles to move towards their respective destinations after BRO and Army removed the debris.
To repair the damaged portion and remove debris due to landslides in Gund area, it was decided to stop traffic from both sides so that the BRO could undertaken the repair work without any disturbance. A portion of the road damaged near Gund has also affected traffic on Srinagar-Baltal. He said no vehicle, including those carrying Amarnath pilgrims will be allowed to ply on the highway. Traffic official said traffic will be resumed on the highway tomorrow after the BRO removes the debris and repair the damaged portion of the road. A decision to allow traffic will be taken only after receiving green signal from the BRO and traffic police officials posted at different places on the highway, he added.
However, the national highway, linking the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country was through. The highway, which was closed yesterday in the morning due to landslides at Penthal and other areas was later put through in the afternoon. However, light vehicles and heavy vehicles carrying Amarnath pilgrims will ply from both sides. Other heavy vehicles will continue to ply on one-side only, he said.
The historic Mughal road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region was through for both ways. (AGENCIES)
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