NH closed for 8 hrs from 10 pm onwards
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 29: Inspector General of Police (Traffic), J&K, Alok Kumar today said that National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and HCC company have failed to maintain the highway between Nashri and Banihal resulting into lot of hardships for the road users and people of the State.
Talking to Excelsior today, IG Traffic said that Jammu-Srinagar National highway remained closed since January 21 and could be restored after six days. He said the snow was cleared within two days but the land slides at several places between Ramban and Banihal created problem in the restoration of the highway for few days.
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Referring to the continuous land slides and frequent shooting stones at the places like Anokhi Fall, Battery Chashma, Panthial etc, Kumar said the HCC company has been engaged by the NHAI in this Ramban belt. Besides construction/ widening of the road, company is also responsible for the maintenance of the road. But unfortunately, the way NHAI and HCC have worked during these few days, it has added to the hardships of the people.
The IG said the matter has been taken up with the Project Director and the Manager concerned who have sought four hours time to clear these bottlenecks so that people get rid of frequent land slides and shooting stones there.
“Instead of four hours, we have given them eight hours time from 10 pm onwards tonight till 6 am Wednesday morning. They will launch dedicated repair and maintenance work at Anokhi Fall, Battery Chashama and other few problematic areas over night so that people get rid of this frequent problem in this belt. The Meteorological Department has already predicted rain and snow fall on January 30-31 and in view of that it is necessary to initiate protection work at these sites,” the IG maintained.
The IG Traffic further said that as per the agreement the NHAI and Hindustan Construction Company have to maintain the highway while carrying out road widening work. They are supposed to raise retaining walls and initiate protection work but they usually avoid it. The patch cleared near Anokhi Fall is very narrow the Project Director has been asked to widen this area and also raise protection walls/ grills for the safety of the passengers. DC Ramban has also spoke to the HCC Projector Director on the issue.
Kumar further claimed that after the highway was restored on January 27, till this afternoon, over 4000 LMV and other passenger vehicles have been cleared for Kashmir. About 4500 stranded trucks and load carriers besides 700 petrol/ diesel/ LPG tankers, on the National Highway at various places along with highway and 450 vehicles of security forces were cleared for Kashmir. After this, about 300 Jammu bound vehicles were allowed but they were struck at around 3 pm at Panthyal where shooting stones started. He said before the launch of repair/ maintenance work, many Jammu bound vehicles will be cleared.
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