Srinagar-Jammu highway reopens after two days, Leh, Mughal roads still shut
Srinagar, Mar 25 : Traffic on the national highway, the only all-weather road connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, was resumed on Thursday after remaining suspended for two days due to land and mudslides and shooting stones, triggered by rain.
Meanwhile, the national highway, the only road connecting Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh with Kashmir, historic Mughal road and Anantnag-Kishtwar road remained closed due to accumulation of snow and avalanches.
A traffic police official told UNI today that traffic has been restored on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway. Kashmir-bound vehicles, mostly those stranded at different places, including Udhampur, were allowed to move after getting green signal from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and traffic police personnel deployed on the highway.
He said the road was closed following massive landslides at Cafeteria Morh, Sitaram Passi and Digdol and shooting stones at several places and mudslides at Sherbibi and Shabanbass.
The NHAI working almost round the clock since yesterday to put through the highway. One-way traffic was resumed only today, he said adding that there is still threat of landslides and shooting stones.
Meanwhile, the national highway connecting Ladakh with Kashmir valley remained closed since January 1.
However, Beacon had cleared the snow and declared the highway open on February 28 only to suspend traffic again after few hours due to fresh snowfall and avalanches.Traffic to Sonamarg was also suspended due to snowfall. However, traffic was allowed from Srinagar to tourist resort of Sonamarg on the highway after remaining suspended for about a week.
The historic 86-km-long Mughal road which remained closed for any traffic or pedestrian movement since December last year. There are many avalanche prone areas on the road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region.
The Anantnag-Kishtwar road also remained closed due to accumulation of snow.
(UNI)