5000 vehicles stranded
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Mar 11: The traffic on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway came to grinding halt after fresh landslides near Banihal and shooting stones in Ramsu area of district Ramban and snowfall at Pir Panchal blocked the road this afternoon while the entire region experienced heavy rain, bringing sharp fall in temperature.
Official sources said that traffic on the National Highway came to halt after massive land slides at Kadpura near Banihal town at around 2.30 pm today. There was movement of vehicles from Kashmir towards Jammu today while it was raining since morning in the entire region. Click here to watch video
The shooting stones at Panthyal and Battery Chashma in Ramsu area started amidst rain and movement of local light vehicles from Ramban side was also stopped. The restoration work was initiated by the National Highway authorities and the road was restored at this point late this evening.
More than 5000 vehicles said to have been stranded on North side of the Jawahar Tunnel. There was light snowfall in Jawahar Tunnel area during morning and the road turned slippery. The movement of vehicles was also stopped in this region due to risky road.
IGP Traffic, J&K, Alok Kumar told the Excelsior that after massive land slides at Kadpura near Banihal this afternoon, the highway was blocked. He said before that about 1500 LMVs had crossed and moved towards Jammu.
Kumar said about 5000 heavy vehicles/ tankers were stranded in Qazigund and Lower Munda area. The highway was partially restored at around 9 pm near Banihal landslides but due to 6-7 inch snowfall in JT area, the highway could not be restored till late this evening. He said shooting stones at Panthyal, Maroog, Kela Morh and Battery Chashma has also created problem due to frequent shooting stones and during night it was full of risk to allow movement of vehicles at this dangerous zones as light rain was still continued.
The IG further said that since many Jammu bound vehicles remained stranded on that side of the Jawahar Tunnel due to blockade of the road, tomorrow also vehicles from Kashmir to Jammu will be allowed after road is cleared. There will be no movement of vehicles from Jammu or Udhampur side on Tuesday, Kumar said.
Continuous rain in Jammu city caused water logging at many places and it threw normal life out of gear. There was thin attendance in Govt offices and schools/ colleges while a sharp fall in the temperature has been experienced in the region due to rain and snowfall at higher reaches.
Chopper service to Mata Vaishnodevi remained suspended due to bad weather almost for the entire day while pilgrimage continued smoothly. Basohli-Bani road was closed this after near Magyar due to fresh land slides. Several link roads in higher reaches of Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban and Poonch have been blocked.
Meanwhile, prolonged winters, which started prematurely with season’s first snowfall on 15 November continued to show it’s fury in March as well, as entire Chenab region after remaining white for four months, Bhaderwah Valley received yet another spell of fresh snowfall since Monday morning, thereby, extending white winters to March.
Yet another spell of fresh snowfall, again intensified cold wave conditions in entire Chenab region, dipping mercury to lowest level and throwing normal life out of gear.
After remaining partially sunny for two days, another spell of snowfall lashed Bhadarwah today. The surroundings of Bhadarwah valley which include, Dooru, Thanhala, Kansar, Jatani, Chinchora, Ashapati, Seoj Dhar, Kailash Kund, Subar Dhar, Shankoja and Jaie witnessed heavy snowfall, while Bhadarwah town and it’s peripheral areas recorded moderate snowfall.
High altitude areas of Kishtwar and Ramban districts of Chenab belt are also experiencing fresh spell of snowfall since early morning. People especially of far-off areas are facing several problems especially snapping of electricity and water supply, due to continuous spells of snowfall.
People were again forced to protect themselves from the bone chilling cold in otherwise pleasant March, as inmates were seen remaining glued to traditional Bhukharies (Fire places) and Kangri (Firepots) to protect themselves in the severe cold climate.
Meanwhile, hills of Kashmir experienced fresh snowfall while plains were lashed by rains since wee hours today, leading to drop in the temperature.
A Meteorological (MeT) department officials forecast improvement in the weather conditions from Tuesday morning. He said that light snowfall has occurred in higher reaches in South Kashmir and would continue till late evening.
He said light rains and snow would occur today at isolated places including plains across the Valley.
He said according to the prediction, there is possibility of light rains across the region and snowfall in the higher reaches like Gulmarg and Sonamarg in between March 13-14. He added that the weather in between these days would remain mostly cloudy.
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