Et Plus Report
Srinagar, Mar 14 : Traffic on 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway was disrupted for several hours today due to landslides triggered by heavy rains.
Roads to far-flung and remote areas, including in the areas near the Line of Control (LoC) besides the highway connecting the Ladakh region with the rest of the state, remained closed since December last year due to accumulation of snow.
Official sources said heavy rains during the night triggered landslides and shooting of stones at Penthal, the most troubled spot on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, forced authorities to suspend the traffic in the morning.
However, Border Roads Organisation (BRO), responsible for the maintenance of the highway, linking the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, put into service men and sophisticated machine to put through the traffic.
Despite continuous rains, the landslides were cleared from the highway which was later put through, they said.
Hundreds of vehicles, including those carrying passengers and essentials for the Kashmir valley, left different parts of the Jammu today for Srinagar after green signal was received from the BRO and traffic police officials posted at different places on the highway.
No vehicle will be allowed from Srinagar, a traffic police official said here.
Only one-way traffic is allowed on the highway since December 15 to avoid any traffic jams or accident. However, about 12 people were killed in different accidents on the highway this year.
Roads leading to far-flung and remote areas, including Gurez, Dawar, Neeru, Keran, Karnah, Machil, Teetwal and other areas near LoC, remained closed since December last year due to snow.
The Srinagar-Leh national highway, the only road link between Ladakh reigon with the state, remained closed following accumulation of more than ten feet of snowfall at Zojila and other places.
The BRO has started snow clearance operation from Drass, world's second coldest place after Siberia.
The Centre and state governments have already approved construction of a tunnel at Zojila to make it an all weather highway. |
