Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 23: Two Engineers were killed in landslide in Kishtwar area while traffic on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained suspended for more than seven hours in Ramban today but over 1000 vehicles later crossed towards Kashmir after the highway was retorted this evening.
Reports said two Engineers of a private company engaged in construction of 1,000-MW Pakal Dul Hydroelectric Project were killed in a landslide in Kishtwar district last night. The deceased were identified as senior Mechanical Engineer Gurmeet Singh from Jammu and Electric Engineer Vijay Gupta, resident of Kathua.
The landslide occurred on late Friday evening near Lkhala-Bhandarkot in Dachhan tehsil, about 45 kms from Kishtwar town, official sources said.
The bodies of the Engineers, who were working with Jaypee Group, were recovered from the spot, eight kilometers from the construction site late on Friday night.
“They were part of a team working to restore the road link to the residential quarters. During operation road clearance, they were hit by boulders which rolled down from the hillock along with mud, trapping them,” a company official said.
A police official said the bodies were brought to the district hospital in Kishtwar on Saturday morning and later handed over to their families after completion of legal formalities.
The official said about a dozen houses at Mir Mohalla in Kuchhal area of Chhatroo have come under the grip of land slides and the families were shifted to the safer places today.
Meanwhile, traffic on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained suspended for several hours today after fresh land slide hit the highway at Maroog. It took long time to the NHAI to clear the slides and the highway was cleared at around 5.30 pm. During the morning hours also it remained blocked at another place but was restored after 3 hours.
IGP Traffic, J&K Alok Kumar said that new landslides at Maroog in Ramban belt created massive problem today. It could be cleared around 5.30 pm. The one way traffic towards Kashmir has been restored. Over 1000 light and medium vehicles were cleared for Kashmir.
Kumar said the loaded trucks stranded in Chanderkote, Nashri and Udhampur areas are also being cleared but over 300 oil/LPG tankers stranded in Chenani and Kud areas will not be moved towards Kashmir, which is already facing shortage of fuel, because the road which has sunk between Kud and Patnitop could not be restored even after third day.
The IG further said that at around 7 pm again, another landslide at Seri near Ramban, blocked the highway but that slide was also cleared within one and half hours and the traffic was again restored. He said Traffic Police department plans to carry on movement of loaded trucks towards Kashmir over night if the weather remained clear.
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