Thousands of stranded civilian vehicles, mostly truckscarrying essential supplies to Kashmir, were allowed to run on Jammu-Srinagarnational highway Sunday, the day restricted for movement of security convoysonly.
The normal one-way traffic on the 270-km highway, the onlyall-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was affectedsince Wednesday following multiple landslides and continuous shooting of stonesfrom the hillocks overlooking the arterial road at Digdole and adjoining areasin Ramban district.
Though the highway was cleared of the debris and thestranded Srinagar-bound vehicles allowed to move towards their destinationsSaturday morning, there were still over 4,000 vehicles, mostly trucks, strandedat various places on the highway.
“It was decided that only stranded civilian vehicleswill be allowed on the highway this Sunday in view of the road blockade overthe past couple of days. There will be no movement of security convoys fromeither Srinagar or Jammu,” a traffic department official said.
He said the civilian traffic is moving smoothly and over4,500 Srinagar-bound vehicles have crossed the Jawahar Tunnel, the gateway toKashmir valley, over the past 24 hours after the restoration of the highway.
“We are hopeful of clearing all stranded vehiclesduring the day to allow normal one-way traffic from Srinagar to Jammu onMonday,” the official said.
Traffic on the highway is plying alternatively from the twincapitals of Srinagar and Jammu.
On April 7, the governor administration imposed restrictionson civilian traffic on the highway twice a week — on Sundays and Wednesdays —after a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide attacker rammed his explosives-laden vehicleinto a CRPF convoy, killing 40 jawans on February 14.
However, the restrictions on the civilian traffic werecompletely lifted from Srinagar to Baramulla stretch of the highway earlierthis month, while the restrictions along Udhampur-Srinagar was restricted toSundays from May 23.