Reasi-Mahore-Budhal road blocked
*Thrad big trouble along highway: IG Traffic
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Sept 14: Heavy rain during last night and morning hours today blocked Reasi-Mahore-Budhal and Mahore-Gool roads and caused damage to 250 mts stretch at Thrad and Bali Nallah near Udhampur, suspending movement of heavy vehicles while traffic on Mughal Road remained operational on Sunday.
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Sources said that during night; Reasi, Udhampur and Ramban areas experienced rain which again damaged the roads and National Highway at several points. While the intensity of rain in Reasi and Katra areas was higher while in Udhampur it rained for about two hours. The intensity of rain was however, less in Ramban sector during morning hours.
With the heavy rain during night in Reasi belt, the road between Reasi and Mahore was blocked at 2-3 places due to landslides. The road between Mahore-Sungri-Chassana and Budhal was also closed at least at four points, whereas, Mahore-Gulabgarh and Mahore-Gool-Ramban Road also got damaged and blocked at multiple locations, officials said.
Trikuta hills of Katra Mata Vaishnodevi also experienced heavy rain during last evening and night hours. Yatra to the holy shrine continued to be suspended for the last more than a fortnight.
Reports from Ramban said that at Maroog, Tunnel T-2, Panthyal, Meharh, Sher Bibi and Kishtwari Pathar, the vehicles are facing much problem. The road is single at many stretches and long traffic jams are being created. At many points, the road has caved in and LMVs are another major cause of traffic jams due to lane indiscipline.
The land and mudslides at several points in the sector were cleared and shortly the movement of light and medium vehicles was allowed. However, the traffic at Thrad and Bali Nallah points near Udhampur was suspended for several hours. Sources said many fruit-laden trucks which were released from Qazigund on Saturday for Jammu and Delhi were still stranded in Ramban area and the drivers claimed that they remained stranded for more than 10-12 days on the highway in South Kashmir. Even after 24 hours, they were not able to cross Nashri Tunnel. The fruits are getting rotten. They were facing lot of problems due to non- availability of food, water and toilet/wahsroom facility.
IG Traffic, J&K, Suleman Choudhary when contacted said that due to rain during morning hours on Sunday, the road stretch at Thrad became slushy. “Due to wet and muddy road surface at Thrad, the movement of vehicles had to be stopped for several hours. The National Highway authorities started laying dry mulba/muck on the road surface when the rain stopped. Then after some time, the movement of LMVs was allowed,” he said.
” Thrad is still a major cause of concern and trouble for us. The road stretch is single and movement of traffic is very slow on this patch. No fresh movement of heavy vehicles was allowed today, only some stranded vehicles were allowed towards Jammu in the evening. The LMVs were getting trapped on this slippery and muddy road patch. Some vehicles had to be dragged with the help of JCBs there. Another problematic area is near Bali Nallah, this is also needed to be improved. Rest of the highway is almost traffic worthy but single at many points,” Choudhary added.
The IG, however, informed that traffic on Mughal Road kept on plying today. About 1000 six-tyre trucks were allowed to operate on Sunday. Many trucks carrying fruits were cleared towards Jammu via this road, he added.
Project Director, NHAI, Ramban-Udhampur Sector Shubham Yadav said the heavy rain during morning hours spoiled the efforts of our men and machinery at Thrad and Bali Nallah. Due to mud and slush at these patches, the traffic had to be suspended. He said the restoration work was resumed after the rain stopped. A layer of crushed stones was laid on this 250 mts long stretch and the movement of LMVs was allowed.
When asked whether NHAI requires some time to improve the road, Yadav said till now they have not asked for it. If needed, they will take a call. There is intense pressure to clear the stranded traffic on both sides due to closure of road for long. Moreover, their teams continue to work along with moving traffic. The road at Thrad has been widened to 8-9 mtrs and it is being further widened. For this kind of surface they do not need a rest, rather continuous movement of heavy traffic will strengthen the road surface at Thrad, Yadav added. Meanwhile, Chenani-Latti-Dudu road was restored today for light vehicles. Over forty stranded vehicles were cleared this evening. The authorities with the help of locals used six wider cemented hydraulic pipes in Tarwug Nallah at Latti Pul and laid good earth over them and made temporary passage for the vehicles.
The local Sarpanch, KL Gupta said that DC Udhampur has assured that Army has admitted to raise a bridge at this point. MLA Chenani Balwant Singh Mankotia visited the site at Lattipul this evening and assured the people to provide Rs 30 lakhs out of his CDF for raising both the embankments at this Nallah so that bridge could be raised by the Army at this point. The MLA has also released Rs 10 lakhs to clear 600 mt patch near Pattangarh so that traffic between Latti-Bandol-Pattangarh and Chenani could be restored. The distance between Latti and Chenai via Pattangarh is hardly 38 kms while it is 56 kms via Sudhmahadev and Mantalai, he added.
The road at Bupp village between Mantalai and Latti where massive landslide occurred three days ago, is still sinking and big cracks have been developed all over the road. The movement of heavy vehicles has been suspended by the authorities since morning. The people from Dudu Sub Division have appealed to the Deputy Commissioner Udhampur to send a JCB and road roller to this area so that both the troubled points at Bupp and Latti Pul could be restored properly. They said the road via Ramnagar and Majouri up to Dudu is also in very bad condition near Shiv Galli, Gandhtop. Even the Tractor trolleys loaded with food grains got struck there two days ago and the labourers had to unload the goods and then reload at these points. They demanded that the road via Mantalai be restored so that over 50000 population of Dudu Sub Division could get smooth supply of ration and fuel/LPG.
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