Authorities Wednesday did not allow fresh traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway after a landslide sent stones hurling down a hillock, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded, officials said.
It was decided to first clear the stranded vehicles, and therefore no fresh traffic was allowed on the 270-km highway either from Srinagar or Jammu this morning, the officials said.
After clearing the stranded vehicles hundreds of Jammu bound vehicles were allowed to move from Qaziqund and Panthachowk Srinagar on Wednesday afternoon.
Most vulnerable landslide and shooting stone prone area of the highway from Sherbibi to Ramban remained open, however at Gangroo a landslide and shooting stones rolled down again Wednesday morning.
Contractor company of National Highway Authority of India engaged for widening and four-laning the highway has also been assigned repair and maintenance operation of the Jammu-Srinagar Highway cleared landslides using men and heavy machinery.
Vehicular traffic remained moved on the highway at snail’s pace between Sherbibi and Magarkote.
Earlier on Tuesday hundreds of vehicles remained stuck in massive traffic jam between Gangroo Banihal and Ganroo Magarkote sector of the highway.
The landslide which struck the highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, forced the closure of the highway for two days at Gangroo near Ramsu.
Though authorities after hectic efforts removed the debris and ensured reopening of the road Friday, the intermittent falling of stones at the same spot over the past five days caused frequent disruption in the smooth movement of the traffic.
The traffic on the highway is restricted to one-way over the past several months, plying alternatively from the twin capitals of Srinagar and Jammu, in view of the ongoing four-laning project.
The stones continued to fall almost throughout the day Tuesday, blocking the Jammu-bound traffic. The road was cleared around midnight, but a fresh falling of stones forced suspension of the traffic Wednesday morning, a traffic department official said.
He said the stones stopped falling Tuesday afternoon again, allowing the traffic department to show green signal to the stranded vehicles.
Most of the passenger vehicles have already been cleared and now the focus is on the heavy vehicles, the official said.