Postman dies in shooting stones in Reasi area
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Aug 20: Over 2500 vehicles were stranded on the busy Jammu-Srinagar National Highway due to landslides at four places in mountainous Ramban sector since early morning after continuous rain since last night across the region while a Postman was killed due to shooting stone in Arnas area of district Reasi today.
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Due to rain and landslides, several roads also remained closed in Udhampur, Reasi and Mahore areas while flash flood in Nallahs across the region disrupted movement of normal traffic. The river Chenab and Tawi were also flooded due to continuous rain since last night and the Chenab water was flowing near alert mark this evening.
Official sources said that due to heavy rain during night and morning hours today, land slides took place at Panthyal, Battery Chashma, Maroog, Monkey Morh and Morh Ghori spots in Ramban sector of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. The movement of traffic came to halt at around 7 am. Though some slides were cleared by the National Highway authorities during the day but Battery Chashma and Panthyal areas were still giving trouble to the road clearing teams as shooting stones continued at these places posing risk to the lives of road users and the teams deputed for restoration work.
SSP Traffic, National Highway, J S Johar when contacted said that due to landslsides at 4-5 places during early hours today amidst over night rain, the highway was blocked in Ramban sector. He said though the authorities almost cleared landslides at Marog, Battery Chashma, Monkey Morh and a few other places but Panthyal sliding area was still problematic. The shooting stones continued at this place and it was very risky to press men and machinery for road clearance work during night hours there.
Johar said, the operation was stalled late this evening and if the weather remained favourable, the road clearance work will be resumed in the morning. He hoped that highway will be cleared tomorrow if the weather remained fair. He disclosed that about 1200 vehicles including LMVs/ trucks etc have been stranded in Ramban, Banihal, Udhampur Jakheni Bypass pass/ Dhar Road besides Nagrota area of Jammu. There will be more than 1000 vehicles stranded on the other side of the Jawahar Tunnel. He said no movement of vehicles was allowed from TCP Jakheni (Udhampur) towards Kashmnir and from Qazigund towards Jammu side since morning.
Reports from Reasi said that 45 year-old Postman, Chandey Ram, son of Shanker Dass of Hunder village working in Arnas Post office died on the spot after he was hit by shooting stones from the hill top amidst rain at Morha Barochi in Hunder Panchayat of Arnas this morning. The deceased hailed from Hunder village in Arnas. The incident took place when he was going to his duty on foot. His body was removed to Arnas Hospital and later handed over to the family after performing legal formalities by police.
Meanwhile, keeping in view the heavy rain and over flowing of Chenab river and other Nallahs, the Reasi Administration has advised the people to refrain from taking any journey due to flash foods and slippery road conditions.
Another report said that due to rain and landslides Mahore- Gool and Gool- Ramban Road was also blocked today. Even Reasi-Mahore road remained blocked for several hours but was cleared in the afternoon. Udhampur-Ghordi-Barmeen Road has also been blocked at two places due to land- slides after heavy rain last night. It could not be cleared till this evening. The over night rain has also snapped power supply to many areas of these three districts besides some hilly areas of Rajouri and Poonch.
In Jammu city also rain continued whole night and during the day as well. River Chenab and Tawi were flooded. However, the water level in Chenab remained below alert mark this evening. But it was continusoulsy increasing. The water level in Tawi remained nearly seven feet late this evening but it was also rising, an official spokesman said.
The weatherman has already predicted heavy rain and floods across the region in next 24 hours. He said that on Saturday and Sunday there will be slight improvement in weather but again for the last 4-5 days, the rains may hit most parts of J&K including Kashmir valley.
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