Rains, snowfall lash J&K; NH blocked
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU/SRINAGAR, Mar 5: At least six persons were feared killed as a Tavera vehicle carrying passengers from Srinagar to Jammu fell into river Chenab after being hit by boulders near Ramban this evening while the rain and snowfall continued to lash many parts of J&K since last evening.
Reports from Ramban said that it was raining in the entire Ramban-Banihal sector since last night and frequent landslides at Mehar and Cafeteria Morh near Ramban town, caused disruptions in the movement of traffic on busy Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
After road clearance at Cafeteria Morh sliding zone, the vehicles were allowed to move towards Jammu side by the Traffic authorities. Some vehicles crossed that point but a speeding Tavera vehicle (Number not known), carrying at least 6-7 passengers was hit by boulders and fell into river Chenab.
It was around 7 pm when the mishap took place. It was raining continuously in this belt. With the fresh landslides and falling of boulders, the movement of vehicles was stopped. The passengers in some other vehicles had miraculous escape.
Immediately after the incident, SSP Ramban, Haseeb-ur-Rehman, along with Additional DC, DySP Headquarters and other officers rushed to the spot. SHO, Ramban Sunil Sharma and Traffic Police officials had already reached the site. The other vehicles were shifted to the safer locations.
The eyewitnesses told the Excelsior that each vehicle was being stopped at the Traffic Police naka point before crossing this sliding zone. This vehicle was also stopped there. Each vehicle driver was being asked to cross this danger point in speed keeping eyes on the instructions of the cops deployed for smooth movement. But this vehicle got trapped and the boulders pushed it down into the river. It was darkness and nothing was visible. The police party came with flood lights and a tyre of the vehicle and broken piece of the roof was lying down at the bank of the river nearly 300 feet deep. The vehicle had submerged into the river.
SSP Ramban, Haseeb- ur-Rehman who himself was there on the spot said that it was raining heavily and landsliding was going on there. It was not possible to reach closer to the site due to fear of falling boulders. But the vehicle had already submerged into the river.
The SSP further said that a rescue team of police and SDRF reached the river bank and conducted searches but it failed to trace any dead body or any more trace of the ill-fated vehicle. He said due to darkness and bad weather the operation was called off and it will be resumed again in the morning. When asked how many people were travelling in the vehicle, the SSP said it will be premature to say anything about it, but as per some cops at the naka before sliding zone, there could be 5-6 people in the ill-fated vehicle.
A Traffic police official said that during the entire day the movement of vehicular traffic was disrupted at Mehar and Cafeteria Morh points. It was raining and the traffic was moving very slowly amidst falling of boulders frequently. He said the vehicle could not be identified so far and even the exact number of passengers travelling in it was not established. He said the river was already flooded and it was steep mountain there. The highway was also blocked at Panthyal and other two points due to fresh land slides and the movement of vehicles has been stopped. More than 500 vehicles said to have been stranded on the highway, he added.
Meanwhile, rain continued in entire Jammu region since last night while higher reaches in Kishtwar, Doda, Poonch and Ramban witnessed snowfall. Several roads including Mahore-Budhal, Mahore –Gool and parts of Kishtwar, Udhampur and Doda have been closed. The power supply to many areas has also been affected. The temperature has experienced sharp fall today. The water logging at many crossings in Jammu city disrupted the smooth movement of vehicles. Chopper service to Mata Vaishnodevi remained suspended today due to bad weather but pilgrimage continued uninterrupted.
Reports from Srinagar said that Gulmarg and hills in Kashmir experienced fresh snowfall today while intermittent rainfall continued across the Valley for the second consecutive day, leading to drop in the temperature.
A Meteorological Department (MeT) official said that an inch of snowfall has been accumulated in Gulmarg while as the temperature has witnessed a dip from last evening.
He said that Srinagar received a rainfall of 1.1 mm till 05:00 pm while as the Qazigund, Pahalgam, Kupwara and Banihal received a rainfall of 4.8 mm, 1.2 mm, 2.0 mm and 8.6 mm, respectively.
The official said that wet weather conditions will continue to prevail in Jammu and Kashmir till Saturday evening, adding that there is possibility of improvement in the weather conditions from Saturday night.
He said that the temperature across Kashmir will dip further in next two days due to continuous rains in plains and snowfall in the hills.
“The temperature will improve as weather improves”, he added.
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