Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 29: Traffic on 270-km-long Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was disrupted today due to landslides and shooting stones, triggered by the rain and light snowfall.
Light snowfall occurred at Jawahar Tunnel, the gateway to Kashmir, while rains triggered shooting stones from the hillocks at several places between Panthiyal and Ramsoo, forcing suspension of the traffic for several hours.
“Traffic on the highway is restricted to one-way as part of the winter arrangement and plies alternatively from Jammu and Srinagar to facilitate smooth journey to the commuters in view of ongoing work on the four-laning project,” Traffic department officials said.
They said only Srinagar-bound vehicles were allowed today morning but were stopped after rains triggered shooting of stones at Panthiyal, Moumpassi, Panki Morh and Sherbibi in Ramban district, the officials said, adding the highway was cleared of the debris and reopened for traffic after over two hours but intermittent landslides at Cafeteria Morh further disrupted the traffic and the highway was closed again.
Jawahar Tunnel and adjoining areas also experienced fresh but light snowfall around 7 am, disrupting the smooth traffic, they said, adding, that hundreds of vehicles, including those carrying passengers and trucks loaded with essentials, were stranded on the highway between Cafeteria Morh and Chanderkote.
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), responsible for maintenance and widening of the highway pressed into service sophisticated machines and cleared the landslides after which traffic was partially resumed at 6 pm as intermittent landslides and shooting of stones was disrupting the traffic movement.
SSP National Highway, Ramban, Jatinder Singh Johar said, “Traffic was disrupted on the National Highway at several places in Ramban due to shooting stones and landslides since early morning. It was restored in the afternoon but again landslides at Cafeteria Morh forced closure of the traffic.”
“The traffic was again restored at about 6 pm but intermittent landslides were hampering smooth traffic movement, particularly at Cafeteria Morh,” the SSP added.
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