Ramban, Dec 18: Vehicular traffic on Jammu-Srinagar highway was Tuesday suspended due to landslides in Seri area of district Ramban.
Police said hundreds of vehicles including passenger and load carriers remained stranded along the highway after sudden closure of the road.
They said road was blocked due to heavy boulders and earth mounds that came down rolling from Chamba hillock. Officials said BECON pressed its men and machinery into service to remove the landslides and make the road operational.
“A private contractor has installed stone crusher along the highway weakening the soil of the hillock”, officials said.
A large portion of the road was completely buried under the landslide.
Hundreds of passengers remained stranded along the highway after the sudden closure of road. “Ironically no traffic official arrived at the spot resulting in chaos”, Irshad Ahmed, one of the stranded passengers told Greater Kashmir.
When contacted, Officer Commander 52 RCC Batote said the landslides were triggered unexpectedly at Seri, Ramban, closing the highway. “Boulders, stones are constantly rolling down from the mountain due to which restoration work remained affected till 3.00 pm,” he said, adding that the road clearance work has been started and it was expected that the road will be thrown open by tomorrow.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 18 Dec 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 18 Dec 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 19 Dec 2012 00:00:00 IST