SRINAGAR: One-way traffic was on Sunday allowed to ply from Jammu to Srinagar on 270-km-long national highway, the only road connecting Kashmir with rest of the country, after the vehicles were allowed towards the winter capital for two day.
”One-way traffic will be allowed from Jammu to Srinagar on Sunday to ply on Kashmir highway till further orders to avoid traffic jam and accidents,” a traffic police official said.
Hundreds of passenger vehicles left Jammu early in the morning for Kashmir valley. However, he said the vehicles will have to cross Nagrota before 1100 hrs after which they will not be allowed to move beyond that point. ”No vehicle will be allowed from opposite direction,” he said.
Meanwhile, Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs), carrying essential commodities, including vegetables, fuel and LPG cylinders, will be allowed to move towards the valley in the afternoon. The drivers were asked to drive very slowly to avoid any accident.
Traffic on the highway was allowed to ply from Srinagar to Jammu on Friday and Saturday.
The Srinagar-Jammu highway was closed on Monday following heavy snowfall at Qazigund, Jawahar tunnel, Banihal and Shaitan Nallah and fresh landslides and shooting stone at over a dozen places between Ramban and Ramsu. But, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) pressed into service sophisticated machines and finally cleared snow and landslides and one-way traffic was allowed from Srinagar to Jammu on Friday.
During the past few years, the highway frequently gets closed due to landslides between Ramban and Ramsu, leading to acute shortage of essentials in Kashmir valley, which is entirely dependent on imports from different states. The prices of commodities are also going up after highway gets closed. Frequent suspension of traffic on the highway has become a daily routine since NHAI started road widening, particularly between Ramban and Ramsu.
Meanwhile, the highway, the only road connecting Union Territory (UT) Ladakh with Kashmir and Mughal road, linking Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region, and Anantnag-Kishtwar road also remained closed for the past 40 days on Sunday due to snow and slippery conditions.
The 434-km-long Srinagar-Leh national highway and historic 86-km-long Mughal road remained closed and there was no chance of reopening these roads before April-May following heavy to very snowfall besides slippery conditions.
(agencies)
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