Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 2:Over forty light and medium passenger vehicles bound for Srinagar, remained trapped on Mughal Road near Poshana in snow clad Pir Gali area of district Poonch last night.
Over 200 stranded passengers had tough time who spent night in chilling cold conditions on Pir Panchal during night and the highway could be restored at around 10 am in the morning. All the stranded vehicles were first cleared for Srinagar and thereafter over 60 more vehicles crossed over to Kashmir via Shopian.
Reports said that first convoy batch comprising of nearly 104 vehicles which started from Behramgalla (Bafliaz) area at 11 am on Wednesday crossed over to that side of the Pir Ki Gali without any problem. Some more vehicles also crossed the area before 1 pm. But the vehicles who started from Bafliaz side after 2 pm got struck hardly 2 kms short of Pir Ki Gali, ahead of Poshana. This entire belt is snowbound. There was raining and snowing and road turned slippery. Three vehicles got trapped in snow and the narrow road stretch having snow on both sides there at around 5 pm. About a dozen more vehicles following them also got struck there. In this area about 100 odd passengers got struck. The other vehicles were stopped at Behramgalla police post, about 15 kms earlier.
DIG Rajouri-Poonch Range, Vivek Gupta said that due to rain, snow and land sliding and slippery road conditions, some vehicles which started late from Bafliaz side got trapped ahead of Poshana. There is no communication in that stretch. However, after receiving information DSP, Traffic, DTI, SDPO Surankorte and SHO concerned were deputed to that area for evacuation of passengers and providing them assistance. Some vehicle were brought back to Behramgalla while some remained trapped. There were hardly 35-40 vehicle stranded on the road but around 11 pm the troubled area was cleared. The movement of vehicles was allowed at around 10 am today morning.
SSP Traffic, Jammu Rural, Mohan Lal Kaith said the problems occurred only due to sudden rain and snowfall at the Pir Panchal last evening. The road turned slippery between Poshana and Pir Gali snow bound area and vehicles got trapped. The land slide was cleared during night but movement of vehicles was not allowed due to bad weather and slippery road conditions. However, all the vehicles were cleared for Kashmir in the morning and the road remained operational during the day.
Kaith further said that trucks (3- Axle/ 6-tyre only) will also be allowed to move on Mughal Road shortly. He said the movement of vehicles from Bafliaz will be allowed at 5 am onwards and after 3 pm, no vehicle will be allowed towards Pir Ki Gali or Kashmir. Tomorrow (Friday) the movement of vehicles will be allowed from Shopian side to Rajouri, Poonch and Jammu on this road, the SSP Traffic Jammu Rural added.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
