Ramban: The Srinagar- Jammu National Highway remains closed for vehicular traffic movement due to overnight rains and fresh spells of snowfall on both sides of Jawahar Tunnel and Banihal Qazigund (NAVYUG) tunnels on Wednesday.
Traffic Police officers said the highway was closed due to overnight heavy rains which lashed in the Udhampur- Banihal sector of the highway due to which landslides have triggered on various spots between Karool and Ramsu including mudslides at Seri and shooting stones at Panthyal.
They said snow is also accumulated on both sides of Banihal Qazigund and Jawahar Tunnels.
Hundreds of vehicle load carriers, including private cars, were standard at Ramban , Chanderkote, Peera Seri, Magarkote Banihal and other places on the highway.
Traffic officials said no fresh traffic will be allowed from either side of the highway until the weather is not improved and landslides and accumulated snow was not cleared from the road.
They said on Wednesday no vehicle was allowed to move beyond traffic check post-Qazigund and Udhampur and due to blockade of the highway at Cafeteria Morh ahead of Ramban, Panthyal and slippery road conditions between Banihal and Qazigund.
Deputy Superintendent of Traffic police, National Highway (Ramban) Parul Bhardwaj, who was monitoring the road restoration work at Cafeteria Morh near Ramban said that NHAI have pressed their men and machinery into service to clear the highway despite heavy rains between Ramban and Mehar.
He said some Jammu bound stranded vehicles in Ramban and Seri were allowed to move late Wednesday evening after a single lane road was prepared by the concerned road maintenance agency at 6:30 pm. Officials said NHAI also pressed their men and machinery at Panthyal to clear the landslides and shooting stones.
A manager of NHAI at Cafeteria Morh informed that the landslide at Cafeteria Morh was cleared and a single lane road was prepared to clear the Jammu bound stranded vehicles. Meanwhile, Jammu &Kashmir Traffic Police Headquarter in fresh advisory advised commuters “not to undertake journeys on the Jammu Srinagar National highway on Thursday.”
They said vehicular traffic on the Jammu Srinagar National highway will remain suspended due to huge landslides at Cafeteria Morh and continuous shooting stones at many places between Ramban and Banihal and accumulation of snow on both sides of Banihal Qazigund Tunnels on Thursday.
