Srinagar/Jammu, Jan 1: After remaining suspended for three days, the traffic on strategic 300-km-long Jammu-Srinagar highway, the only road link connecting Kashmir valley with rest of the world, was on Saturday fully restored.
All the stranded vehicles and passengers on both sides of Jawahar Tunnel were cleared and the traffic has started moving without any disruption on the highway.
“Srinagar-Jammu highway was thrown open for two-way traffic this afternoon. 351 light and 338 heavy vehicles left from Jammu to Srinagar while 457 light and 247 heavy vehicles left Srinagar for Jammu,” Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Dr Asgar Samoon said.
He said the divisional administration has already ordered restrictions on the traffic movement on Srinagar-Gumri road, Bandipora-Gurez, Daksum-Kistwar road, Kupwara-Machil/Keran/Tangdar roads, Mughal road and other roads which are vulnerable from snow point of view till the weather improves.
Samoon said snow clearance work on Kokernag-Vailoo-Daksum road, Kokernag-Larnoo-Matigawran-Insha-Margand Top road, Damhal-Simmer-Dandwar road, Kapran-Dooru road, Shopian-Aharbal road is in progress. However, Vailoo-Matigawran road is through for light vehicles.
The Srinagar-Jammu highway was closed on December 29 following heavy snowfall and slippery road conditions in Jawahar Tunnel, Banihal and Qazigund areas.
“We have allowed traffic from both sides viz Jammu to Srinagar and vice versa after the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), responsible for the maintenance of the highway, cleared snow on the road,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Highway (Kashmir), Hamid Ullah told Greater Kashmir.
He said the administration allowed Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) to cross Jawahar Tunnel from Banihal to Qazigund on trial basis and later all stranded LMVs from Qazigund were cleared without any disruption.
“All the trucks and other load carrying vehicles were also cleared from both sides of the tunnel and the traffic was moving smoothly,” he added.
He said the BRO had pressed into service men and machinery to clear the accumulated snow at Patnitop and between Qazigund and Banihal, the most affected stretches on the highway.
Official sources said the administration has allowed the fresh movement of LMVs from Jammu to Srinagar and vice versa while the decision on allowing fresh heavy vehicles from Srinagar and Jammu would be taken after reviewing the weather conditions.
“The weather is improving fast and it is expected that the road would be thrown open for heavy vehicles soon,” maintained official sources.
Meanwhile, the passengers had to face several hardships due to long traffic jams on highway. “There was a complete chaos on highway as thousands of vehicles remained struck in frequent and long traffic jams due to stranded vehicles. The traffic was moving with snail’s pace and it took hours to cover even a small distance,” Ramesh Verma, a government employee told Greater Kashmir from Patnitop on phone while returning to Jammu from this hill resort.
Besides, all the stranded passengers on Bus Stand Jammu were allowed to proceed towards their onward journey.

POWER, RATION SCENARIO
The Divisional Commissioner Kashmir said out of 208 power receiving stations, 206 were restored besides 86 feeders of 33KV. He said that at 4:30 pm, 730 MWs has been made available today and gas turbine starts functioning at 5:30 pm daily.
Regarding availability of food-grains, Samoon said 21.475 MTs of rice, 9.274 MTs wheat, 1.709 MTs sugar is available while petrol and petroleum products are sufficient for the current month.
The Divisional Commissioner further said that SMC has pressed into service 72 dewatering pumps and clearance lanes and bylanes has been done by the Corporation.
He said Airforce AN-32 has been arranged between Srinagar and Kargil on January 03, 2011.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 1 Jan 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 1 Jan 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 2 Jan 2011 00:00:00 IST