The 270 km Srinagar-Jammu National Highway remained closed for traffic on sixth consecutive day on Wednesday even as authorities said the road clearance work was in its final stage.
Senior Traffic police officials said more than 2000 truckscarrying essential commodities to the Valley are stranded on the highway betweenUdhampur and Batote, where a part of a road caved in due to a major landslideFriday afternoon.
Speaking with Greater Kashmir, Deputy Superintendent Police,Traffic (Highway) Ajay Anand said that round-the-clock clearance work on thehighway was underway and was likely to be completed by Thursday.
“There are almost 2000 Kashmir-bound trucks stranded on thehighway. We are making all possible efforts that the road is made travel-worthyso that the trucks can move,” Anand said.
The traffic officials said shooting stones on the highwaywere hampering the road clearance process.
The closure of the National Highway has choked supplies tothe Valley at a time when people are reeling under hardships due to thesituation prevailing in Kashmir owing to the outbreak of covid-19.
Frequent closure of the highway often causes problems to thepeople in the Valley for whom the essential supplies get choked every time thehighway is closed. Hundreds of truckersstranded on the National Highway are also facing a lot of problems due to lackof proper facilities.
The truckers have appealed to the authorities to restore thetraffic soon. Meanwhile, a traffic advisory issued by the Traffic Policeadvised people not to “start journey” on the highway as it remains blocked. However,as per the advisory, “decision regarding movement of traffic will be taken onlyafter clearance of the road,”
Weather to improve from today: MeT
The Meteorological Department has predicted significantimprovement in weather from Thursday onwards.
Speaking to Greater Kashmir, Director MeT, Sonam Lotus saidthe weather will witness improvement from Thursday. “Due to westerndisturbances, Jammu and Kashmir received fresh rainfall in plains while lightsnow in higher reaches on Wednesday. But we expect improvement from Thursday,”Lotus said.
Meanwhile, parts of the Valley received rainfall sinceTuesday night as Kokernag recorded 4 millimeter rainfall while Pahalgamrecorded 2.2 mm, Qazigund 0.8 mm, Kupwara 0.8 mm, Banihal 0.2 mm rainfall.
While upper reaches of the Valley received a fresh snowfall,parts in north Kashmir including Baramulla, Sopore received a hailstorm.However, officials said there were no reports of any damage. As per MeTofficials, frequent rainfall in March across Jammu and Kashmir had helpedovercome the rainfall deficit witnessed in February due to less number ofwestern disturbances, which cause a change in weather.