| Kashmir highway re-opens, vehicles to ply from Jammu to Srinagar | | |
Srinagar, Feb 5 : The 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu National Highway reopened on Tuesday after traffic was disrupted for a day due to fresh landslides and shooting stones at Banihal when only Kashmir-bound
stranded Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) were allowed to move. On Tuesday, HMVs and Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) will ply from Srinagar to Jammu and no vehicle, including security force convoy,
would be allowed to ply from opposite direction, a traffic police official told UNI this morning.
However, the National Highway, connecting Ladakh region with Kashmir and historic 86-kmlong historic Mughal road and Anantnag-Kishtwar roads remained shut due to accumulation of
several feet of snow and slippery road conditions. He said traffic on National Highway, the only all weather road linking Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, was disrupted last evening due to landslides at Kharpora, Banihal. However, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Border Roads Organisation (BRO) immediately put into service sophisticated machines and men and cleared the road late last night. He said it was decided to take a final decision about the traffic movement only on Tuesday, keeping in view the weather and road condition. Traffic movement from Srinagar to Jammu will be allowed today. However, he said LMVs will have to cross Levdora Qazigund before 1300 hrs when HMVs will be allowed to move. There is a forecast for heavy to very heavy snow and rain during the next 48 hours which could affect traffic movement on the highway again, official sources said. However, they said, the road has become very unpredictable as nobody knows when landslides and shooting stones would occur. But, they said, the NHAI and BRO are working immediately to clear the road and put through the highway. Frequent closure of the National Highway result in steep rise in airfare besides shortage of essentials, particularly vegetables and meat, in the Kashmir valley, totally dependent on imports from different states, particularly Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan.
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