The 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu National Highway remained closed for the fifth successive day on Tuesday.
Senior Traffic Police officials said more than 1100 truckscarrying essential commodities to the Valley and those returning remainedstranded on the arterial road due to multiple landslides. “As a result ofmultiple landslides and threat of further landslides, the highway remainedclosed for the fifth day today. Men and machinery are on the job to make theroad travel-worthy,” an official said.
As per a traffic advisory issued on Tuesday, the highwaywill continue to remain closed for traffic on Wednesday for any sort of trafficin view of the prediction for rain and snowfall in higher reaches.
An official said the National Highway Authority of India(NHAI) is working to clear the highway and make it motorable but rainfall andmovement of rocks from adjacent hills have made the task difficult, theofficial added.
“It would take some more time to clear the portion ofthe highway near the Battery Chasma area in Ramban district,” the officialsaid.
It may be mentioned that the highway has remained closed formore than 45 days since November, 2019 due to inclement weather.
Frequent closure of the highway has caused a shortage ofsupplies in the Valley which is already reeling under the problems due to theprevailing situation owing to Covid-19.
The Mughal Road connecting Shopian district to Pir Panchaland the Srinagar-Leh National Highway also remain closed for traffic due toaccumulation of snow, the travel advisory said.
2-Day Wet Spell
Meanwhile, Meteorological Department has predicted a 2-daywet spell in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh beginning Tuesday night.
Director MeT Sonam Lotus said fresh spell of intermittentlight to moderate rain in plains and snowfall over higher reaches of J&Kand Zojila, Drass and some areas of Zanskar region of Ladakh is most likely tooccur during March 31 night to April 2 forenoon.
“As usual it may lead to landslides in Banihal-Ramban axisof Jammu-Srinagar National Highway,” Lotus said.
He said thunderstorm with strong gusty winds of the order of30-40 kilometers per hour is also likely during the two-day wet spell. “In viewof this, farmers are informed to postpone spraying of their orchards, preparedrainage to drain excess water from their fields,” Lotus said.