NH to be fully restored on Sat
Govind Sharma
JAMMU, Feb 9: The vehicular traffic on 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu National Highway (NH), which connects Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, will be restored fully on February 13 as repair work of the highway portion that caved in on January 10 in Ramban town, has been completed and the BRO is going to de-launch the temporary bridge raised at the damaged site on February 12.
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Principal Secretary, PWD (R&B), Shailender Kumar told Excelsior that the highway will be restored fully at damaged site probably on coming Saturday if the BRO de-launch the Bailey Bridge on Friday when the highway will remain closed for repair work. He further added that the repair work of the damaged portion of the road at Kela Morh (Ramban) has been completed in record time.
Project Director, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Purshotam Kumar, when contacted, also confirmed that the repair work on damaged portion of the highway at Kela Morh has been completed and the traffic will be restored on the highway soon.
“The construction company engaged in the repair work of the damaged portion had completed the work on January 26 and now after around 14 days, the repaired portion of the highway has gained enough strength and is ready to be used. We have asked the Border Roads Organization (BRO) to de-launch the Bailey bridge constructed at the damaged portion so that the highway could be restored fully,” Kumar added.
SSP National Highway, JS Johar said that he has also come to know that repair work has been completed and the BRO is going to de-launch the Bailey Bridge soon, probably on coming February 12, as the highway remains closed on every Friday for maintenance and repair work.
A traffic official said that due to one way traffic on Bailey bridge, huge traffic congestion is noticed daily near Kela Morh. He hoped that with de-launch of the Bailey Bridge and opening of the repaired highway, the traffic congestion will decrease and the vehicles will ply smoothly on the highway.
Pertinent to mention here that NH was closed for traffic on the evening of January 10 after a portion of the road near Kela Morh, about four km ahead of the Ramban district headquarters, sank following collapse of a 16-metre concrete retaining wall of the bridge, leading to the sinking of 15 m portion of the highway.
Due to damage of highway portion, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir to rest of the country, had remained closed for around a week, leading to emergence of a crisis-like situation in the Valley as the prices of the essential commodities had considerably gone up.
The traffic was restored partially on the highway only on the evening of January 16 after BRO raised Bailey Bridge at the damaged site in a record time of 60 hours and simultaneously, the concerned construction company started the restoration work on the damaged portion of the road.
Meanwhile, the traffic on the highway was suspended this afternoon due to fresh landslides at Marog in Ramban district,” a traffic police official said. He added that the traffic was restored by 3 pm as NHAI machines and men cleared the landslides.
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