Ramban, Apr 1: The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, the only surface link between Kashmir and the rest of the country remained blocked for two hours due to fresh landslides and shooting stones at the Kishtwari Pathar area between Ramsu and Banihal on Monday.
Officials said that the vehicular traffic on both sides of the highway was halted around 10 am after a fresh landslide hit and blocked the road at Kishtwari Pathar, a place between the Ramsu and Banihal sectors of the highway.
They said that the subcontractor companies engaged by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), pressed their men and machinery to clear the accumulated landslide at Kishtwar Pathar.
Officials said the highway was reopened for two-way traffic on Monday afternoon.
They said that the stranded traffic was cleared on priority after that scheduled two-way traffic was allowed to ply on either side of the highway.
Traffic officials monitoring the regulation of traffic on the highway in Ramban said that the passenger vehicles and load carriers stopped at Qazigund, Kashmir, were also allowed to move towards Jammu in the afternoon.
However, they said that the vehicular traffic movement remained slow due to single-lane road stretches at Dalwass. Mehar Cafeteria, Panthyal, Magarkote, Hingni, and various other places due to poor road surface conditions between the Nashri and Banihal sectors.
Traffic officials said that hundreds of Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) crossed the Nashri-Banihal sector for their respective destinations in Kashmir and Jammu.
The intermittent rain on Saturday and Sunday morning caused landslides and shooting stones at several places between Nashri and Banihal in Ramban district and the road surface suffered damages and created bottlenecks.
Meanwhile, the traffic authorities advised the vehicle operators to follow lane discipline.
“Overtaking would lead to traffic congestion as there are narrow, single-lane road stretches at many places between Nashri and Banihal,” they said.