The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway continues to remain closed for vehicular traffic for the third consecutive day on Monday (July 10) due to multiple landslides, officials said. The officials also informed that the agencies making efforts to ensure early restoration of the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country.
The 270-km-long highway has been closed to vehicular traffic since Saturday, leaving thousands of vehicles stranded. The closure is due to incessant rainfall which had triggered multiple landslides and severely damaged a portion of the road near Panthiyal Tunnel and Chamba-Seeri in Ramban district.
Clearance work in progress
Authorities have informed that the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is working round-the-clock at Chamba-Seeri to clear the highway and restore traffic. Meanwhile, authorities are also working on an alternate alignment to ensure early restoration of the road.
“Barring the Chamba-Seeri stretch where a 60-metre strip of road was washed away, the highway is almost clear of all hurdles and is traffic-worthy,” a traffic department official said.
“The restoration work will take some time. The stranded vehicles will be cleared on priority once the road is made motorable,” the official said.
The official also informed that no fresh traffic is being allowed either from Jammu or Srinagar till the stranded vehicles are cleared.
Use Mughal Road for journey
Meanwhile, police have also issued a notification advising the people to avoid travelling on the highway till the time confirmation is issued by the administration, and use Mughal Road instead for the journey from Jammu to Srinagar.
A police spokesperson advised people to avoid travelling on the highway till the time confirmation is issued by the administration.
The spokesperson further said that the administration is making the best possible efforts to ensure the early restoration of traffic on the national highway.
As per the latest notification by the traffic officials, the Mughal Road was through for both-way traffic. The Mughal Road is an alternate link connecting the districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu with south Kashmir’s Shopian district.
Notably, even Mughal Road was hit by multiple landslides on the weekend following heavy rains but the road was cleared by the concerned agencies and the traffic was moving smoothly.
(With agency inputs)