Srinagar: The Srinagar-Jammu national highway was reopened only for stranded vehicles on Saturday after being closed for four days owing to multiple landslides and caving-in of a 60-meter stretch in Udhampur district following record rainfall earlier this week, a senior official said.
However, normal traffic is yet to resume on the 250-km all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country.
National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) Project Director, Ramban, Shubam said efforts are on to ensure early reopening of the highway for normal traffic.
“We had almost completed the restoration work at 6 pm on Friday and were hopeful of allowing traffic on the strategic highway this (Saturday) morning. But fresh overnight rains hampered our efforts,” he told news agency PTI.
Shubam said the work was restarted immediately on a 60-meter stretch of the road, which caved in at Benali Nallah between Chenani and Udhampur.
After taking some time to allow the boulder base to settle down, the stranded vehicles, especially those carrying perishable items, including fruit-laden trucks, oil tankers and light motor vehicles were allowed to move on from both ends in a regulated manner.
According to officials, more than 2,000 vehicles were stranded on either end of the highway after the August 26 rainfall, which flooded low-lying areas and left a trail of death and destruction in the Jammu region.
