Ramban, Apr 28: Fresh landslides in Shalgari area ahead of Banihal disrupted the vehicular movement for several hours on the ever-busy Srinagar-Jammu National Highway passing through Ramban district on Friday.
Officials said that vehicular traffic came to a grinding halt after a fresh landslide hit and blocked the road at the Shalgari area of Banihal late Friday afternoon.
Due to the highway blockade, hundreds of Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) and Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) remained stranded in long queues on both sides of the landslide affected Shalgari till the landslide was cleared by the concerned road maintenance agency, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) at around 8:30 pm.
The traffic authorities said that during the last 24 hours up to 5 pm on Friday, the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway remained blocked for 5 hours and 5 minutes.
They said that the highway remained blocked for 2 hours due to landslides at Shabanbass, Banihal, and for 3 hours and 5 minutes due to the closure of the Chenani-Nashri Tunnel.
Traffic officials monitoring the regulation of traffic in Ramban said despite the disruption, hundreds of LMVs were cleared on priority.
Earlier, following rains and landslides at Shalgari, vehicular traffic was disrupted on Wednesday night for more than 10 hours, and for 2 hours at Shabanbass on Thursday evening.
After remaining open during the day, the highway again got blocked due to a fresh landslide at Shalgari on Friday evening but was restored later.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ramban, Mussarat Islam told Greater Kashmir that traffic had been restored on the highway after road clearance in Shalgari, Sherbibi sector and stranded vehicles were being cleared on priority.
