SRINAGAR: Traffic on the 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only all-weather road connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, remained suspended for the second consecutive day on Saturday.
Srinagar-Jammu national highway was closed on Friday for weekly maintenance and repair work.
Traffic could not be restored Saturday morning due to landslides and shooting stones triggered by rain at Penthyal and Margooz on the highway, a traffic police official said.
He said heavy rain during the night triggered shooting stones, landslides and mudslides.
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has pressed into service sophisticated machines to put through the traffic, he said adding continued shooting stone are hampering the clearance operation. It was heavily raining between Banihal to Ramsu, triggering more mud and landslides besides shooting stones.
Once the road clearance operation will be completed, traffic will be resumed, he said.
He said today Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) were to ply from Jammu to Srinagar. LMVs had to cross Nagrota Jammu between 0800 hrs to 1200 hrs and from Jakheni Udhampur between 0900 hrs to 1300 hrs.
Only stranded Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) between Nashree and Ramban were to ply towards Srinagar, he said.
He said security forces were also asked not to ply against traffic advisory. They are advised to ply from Jammu to Srinagar today when the road is reopened.
Meanwhile, candidates of Banihal, Ramban and Ramsu and other areas who were to appear in the written test for class 4th posts in Jammu tomorrow expressed concern over the closure of the road.
They said due to the closure of the highway for the second day today, they could not go to Jammu to appear in the written tests. They demanded that they should be allowed to appear in the test separately in case the highway remained closed.
Meanwhile, the national highway, the only road connecting Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh with Kashmir remained closed since January Ist, 2021 due to the accumulation of snow.
However, the highway is likely to reopen for traffic movement from February 28 as the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has completed a snow clearance operation.
However, the historic 86-km-long Mughal road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu remained closed since December last year due to the accumulation of snow.
Meanwhile, snow clearance operation was going on a war footing on Anantnag-Kishtwar road which remained close since December last year.
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