Heavy rain floods highway, shops in Samba, Jammu
Srinagar hotter by 2.4o than Jammu
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, July 10: Over 8500 vehicles have been stranded as Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was closed for repair and maintenance work after a portion of tunnel collapsed in Ramban sector while heavy rain flooded roads and shops in Samba and Jammu areas today.
Jammu, Samba and Kathua belt experienced heavy rain since early hours today, but the weather improved after 11 am. The river and nallahs besides roads and lanes were flooded with water. The water entered many shops in Supwal (Samba) and Vijaypur areas causing extensive damage to public property.
With sharp fall in temperature after heavy rain, Jammu’s weather turned pleasant today as compared to Srinagar. The day temperature in Jammu was recorded as 31.2 degrees Celsius while in Srinagar it was 33.6 degrees C. The MeT office has predicted moderate rain and thundershower at many places across Jammu region on Sunday and rain and thundershower in Kashmnir for next two days.
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Official sources said that after bolders fell down from an under construction tunnel at Magarkote in Ramban at around 8 pm on Friday, the Jammu -Srinagar highway was blocked. The road was restored by HCC and NHAI men and machinery at around 11 pm today. The Traffic police authorities cleared many stranded vehicles by 5 pm. Some landslide again occured at the same site and bolders were about to fall any time as major cracks had been developed in rocks of the hillock.
The NHAI, Trtaffic Police authorities and Civil Administration Ramban after examining the site and sensing trouble, issued advisory and closed the highway for repair/ maintenance work. The movement of vehicles on either side was stopped after 5 pm today.
SSP Traffic, National Highway, Shabir Malik when contacted said that Magarkote tunnel point has turned extremely dangerous. Some rocks have loosen and they may cause big accident. Moreover, highway has been extensively damaged with land slides there. This under construction tunnel connects Magarkote with Panthyal area. Sensing danger, the authoriries took a decision to close the highway immediately in the evening and it will remain closed till tomorrow, till urgent repair work is executed there.
Replying to a question, the SSP said that highway which was blocked late last evening was restored at around 11 am today and many stranded vehicles loaded with essentials were cleared for Kashmir. Some stranded passenger vehicles towards Jammu were also allowed to move.
Malik disclosed that about 6000 vehicles were stranded on Kashmir side while nearly 2500 in Jammu, Udhampur, Manwal and Chenani areas. He said no movement of vehicles will be allowed towards Banihal and Kashmir tomorrow while vehicles plying towards Kud, Batote, Doda-Kishtwar and Chenani-Mantalai-Dudu etc shall be allowed to move on Sunday. The authorities will review the rapair work at Magarkote during the day tomorrow and then take decision about opening of the highway, the SSP NH disclosed.
Meanwhile, due to heavy rains in Samba, the movement of vehicles on Jammu-Pathankot highway was suspended after rain water accumulated in larger area of the highway near Supwal. Around 10 am it rained heavily and flooded water entered people’s houses and shops there, due to which angry people blocked the highway for at least two hours and raised slogans against the National Highway Authority and the district administration.
Angry people kept the highway closed for two hours and vehicular movement came to halt. They demanded repair of the drain along the highway. The police reached the spot and tried to intervene and open the highway but the people did not listen to them.
Later, Additional Deputy Commissioner Samba, Suram Chand reached the spot along with the officials of National Highway Authority of India and pacified the people and assured them that this drain will be repaired soon and this problem of the people will be resolved.
Due to heavy rain, a mini bus got stuck in flooded Dhalote Nallah on Samba- Sumb road today. The passengers were rescued by the locals. When the rain stopped and water receded, the minibus was pulled out of the Khad with the help of JCB.
In Jammu city also, heavy rain during morning hours caused water logging in many areas. The rain water entered in houses in several localities. The seasonal Nallahs were also flooded but the water level later receded.
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