No fresh traffic was allowed on the Jammu-Srinagar NationalHighway for the second day on Monday to facilitate clearance of strandedvehicles including trucks carrying essential commodities to Kashmir Valley,officials said.
The highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir withthe rest of the country, has witnessed frequent disruptions over the past weekdue to multiple landslides and shooting stones triggered by incessant rainsbetween Ramban and Banihal.
“Amid improvement in weather, the road was cleared forstranded vehicles this morning and traffic was presently moving smoothlytowards Kashmir,” an official of the traffic department said.
He said the road was cleared of the debris by Sundayafternoon but fresh sliding of stones at several places forced suspension ofthe traffic in the evening.
With no overnight rains, the clearance operation wasintensified and the road was made traffic worthy again, leading to resumptionof traffic, the official said, adding minor incidents of shooting stones fromhillocks overlooking the highway caused some disruptions but overall thetraffic is moving smoothly.
He said no fresh traffic was allowed either from Jammu orSrinagar for the second consecutive day on Monday.
The traffic on the highway is restricted to one-way sinceDecember last year as part of the winter arrangement to avoid traffic snarls inview of the ongoing work on the four-laning highway project.
“A decision to allow normal traffic on the highway fromTuesday will be taken after fresh review of the road condition later in theday,” the official said.
Two persons were killed and several others injured whentheir vehiclescame under rolling boulders in Ramban district over the past twodays.