Amid forecast for fresh snowfall and rain, no fresh vehicular traffic was allowed on the arterial 270-km Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on Wednesday, traffic department officials said.
However, thousands of vehicles including trucks which gotstranded on the highway following a landslide on Tuesday at Peera betweenNashri and Ramban were allowed to move towards their destinations after theroad was made navigable, the officials said.
“No vehicle either from Srinagar or Jammu was allowedon the highway this morning as authorities had decided to clear the strandedvehicles first,” a traffic department official said.
He said vehicular traffic on the highway, the onlyall-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, resumed late onTuesday after the debris from the landslide was removed in a six-hour long roadclearance operation by the agencies concerned.
“There was nodisruption despite intermittent rains in Ramban-Banihal sector. The traffic ismoving smoothly when last reports were received,” the official said.
He said a decision toallow vehicular traffic, either from Srinagar or Jammu, would be taken later onWednesday night after fresh assessment of the situation.
The traffic on thehighway plies alternatively from Jammu and Srinagar to facilitate smoothmovement of commuters in view of the ongoing work on the four-laning highwayproject.
The MeteorologicalDepartment has predicted moderate rain and snow in Jammu and Kashmir and atscattered places of Ladakh region from March 5 to 7.
“Light rain andsnow will commence at a few places of Kashmir division on March 5 morning andintensify thereafter in intensity and distribution with main activity on March6 and 7,” a MeT official said.
He warned of possible landslides between Ramban and Banihalleading to closure of the highway.