Thrad, Ramban sector still problematic
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Sept 13: With the recent rains and land-slides, a journey along the Jammu- Srinagar National Highway, a critical lifeline for the region, has turned into a nightmare for the commuters, as massive devastation along the highway, specially between Udhampur and Banihal, long traffic jams at many places, have become cause of chaos and frustration for the road users.
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The movement of traffic at snail’s pace along with highway and long traffic jams in Udhampur and Ramban sectors these days have aggravated the commuters ordeal as what used to be a nearly four and half or five-hour journey hardly a month ago, now drags to more than 10 or 12 hours due to damaged and single road at many places. The poor management of the road by the concerned highway athorities is said to be the other reason of this frustration and chaos.
This 270 kms highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country suffered extensive damages at scores of places, especially on the stretch between Chenani and Udhampur, and Nashri and Banihal after record rainfall from August 26 onwards for two weeks. However, the damaged portion is not the only obstacle to smooth movement of vehicles. Thrad near Bali Nallah in Udhampur is still a major bottle neck where a heavy truck takes about 6 minutes to cross just 250 mtrs of the stretch. Moreover, due to very rough rocky road the tyres of many heavily loaded trucks are getting blasted. The trucks are getting trapped there and are puled out with the help of machines. This stretch is needed to be improved and widened for two way traffic.
“Though Traffic Police authorities are strictly implementing one-way traffic system after reopening the highway hardly three days ago, lack of proper management has only added to the misery of the road users,” Surinder Kumar, a Government employee who reached here from Srinagar this evening told Excelsior.
He said the journey from Srinagar up to Banihal was almost comfortable but it took him more than 10 hours to reach Jammu from Banihal. He said long queues of trucks, were noticed on Kashmir side and also between Ramban and Jammu. The light vehicles on both the sides are being allowed. The trucks are taking moré than 20 hours to reach Kashmir from Jammu and vice versa due to mess along the highway. With the continuous work along the highway, the vehicles are being stopped at several points and this factor also consumes much travel time, Kumar added.
“The situation has worsened by complete disregard for lane discipline, reckless overtaking, and near-total absence of traffic regulation at many crucial points, another commuter said.
He, however, praised the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), which has managed to create a diversion between the severely-damaged Bali Nallah and Thrad in Udhampur where both sides of the highway are completely buried under a moving hill.
“The surface is still not completely stable and we have to keep our men and machinery ready to keep the traffic moving,” a NHAI official said.
He said they are faced with a challenging situation to keep the highway open in view of major damages at five places between Nashri and Jakheni in Udhampur, particularly in the Samroli area where highway has been washed away at several places. besides the complete blocking of one tube of a tunnel due to a major landslide near Peerha.
“It will take months for complete restoration of the highway. At least three months are required to raise and stabilize a bed where the road has been washed away,” he added.
A senior Traffic Police official said they are regulating one-way light motor vehicle traffic on the highway at present.
“Light motor vehicle traffic was allowed on trial basis on September 11 but due to the slippery surface of the road, vehicles got jammed and were pushed with excavators and loaders throughout the day.
“Due to the wet bed of this stretch (Thrad), heavy motor vehicle movement could not be permitted until the bed dries up,” the official said.
However, the situation on the ground speaks of a different scenario altogether with trucks also seen plying alongside light passenger vehicles, Army convoy, fuel tankers including buses.
He said about 8000 to 9000 trucks, 4000-4500 LMVs and 1800 to 2000 fuel/LPG tankers besides other Army and security forces’ vehicles are plying on this highway on daily bases, but now hardly 1000 to 1200 trucks are operating in 24 hours. The average of other vehicles has also been reduced to almost one third.
He said about 2000 fruit-laden trucks were released from Kashmir towards Jammu last evening and till this evening all the trucks could not be cleared from Thrad bottleneck till 8 pm on Saturday.
“There is urgent need to suspend traffic movement for at least for 48 hours so that the highway could be widened and improved for the smooth flow of traffic at some points. We have informed higher authorities for this urgency as well,” he added.
“What used to be a hardly five-hour journey has turned into a nightmare. We left Jammu for Srinagar at 6 in the morning but arrived there after 12 hours,” said Manzoor Ahmed, a resident of Jawahar Nagar, Srinagar.
He said they had to drive on the wrong side of the highway for many kilometres in the Banihal-Ramban sector as there was no sign board indicating diversion or traffic police to guide.
“The traffic between Jekhaeni and Peerah was moving at a snail’s pace with the road maintenance agency frequently closing the stretch to undertake necessary works, he added.
Manzoor said he reached Thrad at around 11.15 am and managed to reach Banihal at 6 pm. He said the trouble was far from over as trucks choked one tube and also one of the lanes of another tube in Chenani area, which resulted in complete chaos.
He said the Traffic department should take strict action against the violators to maintain discipline on the highway.
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